The Think Tank

The Rose Festival officially kicked off yesterday despite some pretty crummy weather.  Along with the opening ceremonies always comes a grand fireworks display, and we try to make it each year.  Undaunted by the prediction of rain, our dear friend Debbie came up from Eugene to enjoy the show.

I headed straight over to the East Side Esplanade after work (at 3pm) and helped them set up our Easy-Ups, which worked a real treat keeping us dry in the pounding rain.  Needless to say our early arrival was not as necessary as it has been in years past when the weather was beautiful, but we didn’t want to take any chances.  The wind blew pretty hard until we got our tents anchored, then it mostly died down and took a back seat to the rain, which was impressive, but beneath our canopies we stayed nice and dry.  Shannon met up with us when she was done with work and we all ate fried chicken, drank warm coffee, indulged in some beers, and just generally had a great time.

Seven Chilly hours after we setup camp, amid a moderate drizzle, the fireworks show started.  Quite a few brave souls had ventured forth into the unpleasant evening to join us, and everyone was greatly pleased by the display.  In my opinion the show was much better than it has been for many years, with the fireworks more spread out and very evenly distributed between high and low, which made it a lot easier to photograph.  The only real trouble with the pictures came from rain drops on the lens, which is just part of the deal when you  aim your camera skyward into the rain.

You can see all the pics by clicking on one of the images above or by clicking here.

It's mighty mighty, just lettin' all hang out!

I will let the picture do the talking. (Yes, the fries are right on the sandwich).

Big-Ass Sandwich is a cart on SW 3rd and Ash, right across the street from Captain Ankeny’s Well.  I discovered it about two weeks ago, and I am very glad that I did.  That is one tasty sandwich, although I hate to think of the calories in this sucker.  But trust me, it is definitely worth it.

All the meats are prepared fresh each day, and the owner makes the béchamel cheese sauce by hand.  Toss on some fresh cut home-fries and a little Ardvark spicy sauce, and you are ready to walk and roll.

Today I went for the turkey version, but I’ve also had the roast beast and they are both fantastic.  The ham will be my next treat.

In addition to the sandwiches, Big-Ass is kick-ass in other ways too.  They take credit cards, which is rare for a cart, and they do it with a very neat little device that plugs into an iPhone.  Speaking of iPhones, if you have one you can download an App and pre-order your lunch.  Awesome.

Feeling like that might just be too much sandwich for you?  They make a Half-Ass version as well.  However, if you order that be prepared to be ridiculed: Max ordered a Half-Ass the other day and they called him Christine the rest of the time he was there.  They even introduced him as Christine to other patrons.  If nothing else makes you want to eat there, that should.

You can check out all their details here.

I don’t know about you, but I was a total Pac-Man kid:  When I was three my birthday cake was Pac-Man; The first game I ever played on my Atari 2600 was Pac-Man; I wiled away countless hours playing with my Pac-Man game watch; I tuned in every Saturday morning to watch the Pac-Man cartoon show.  The first really expensive thing I ever bought was a portable Pac-Man game which was vaguely Pac-Man shaped and cost $50 dollars.  At the time my allowance was $5 a week, so it took me a total of 10 weeks to save up for it.  I need not tell you that 10 whole weeks to a five or six year old is roughly equatable to two or three life times.

Today we celebrate because the the 1980 icon and childhood hero turns 30 years old.

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As the title of this post suggests, its been a bit of a bummer of a week.  Well, to be fair, it started out as a bummer of week, the ending has been getting better.  It just feels like the whole week has been crappy because I have spent a large part of it dealing with insurance companies, and I really, really, really hate insurance companies.

Especially Geico.

It started last Friday night when Shannon and I were on our way to see Iron Man 2.   (Not bad, by the way.  Not fantastic, but entertaining nonetheless.)  We were pulling into the parking lot at Bridgeport Village when the woman driving the big SUV in front of me decided she wanted a parking space that was about to become available, so she put it in reverse and started backing up – toward me.  I backed up as far as I could, but eventually ran out of room, and she just ran smack into me.  As if that weren’t bad enough, after she hit me she paused for a few seconds, allowing the car behind me to back up a little which in turn allowed me to back up a couple of feet, and then she backed into me a second time! The damage, as you can see, is not horrible but it certainly did piss me off.

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I came across this fantastic clip of Senator Carl Levin this afternoon, interviewing an ex -Goldman Sachs executive.  It’s priceless.  Go CARL!