Axe Kick, Round Kick, Straight Kick

Oregon has some great place names:

1. Talent
2. Idiotville
3. Needy
4. Not just the famous town of Boring, but the Boring Lava Fields nearby

Last night B and I had our first date-sans-the-kid since she was born almost two years ago.  We saw Magnetic Fields on their current tour playing at the Roseland.  The opener was some folky flappy dorkus, but the Magnetic Fields were wunderbar.  I have been a big-time fan since high school, so I was very dialed-in with the whole set list.  Revelations for B and I included the really, really impressive musicianship of the band members, the band's ability to play the crap out of the slow, sad, pretty songs in a live setting, and the fact that Stephen Merritt played a pump organ the whole time (in past tours he's generally played ukelele.)

It's been a pretty exhausting couple of weeks.  Life stuff going on (notes on that at a later date), insane weather (very cold, full-on snow action yesterday / last night), intense work stress.  Plan to up the chicken sacrifices in order to bring about positive change.

Regarding Chinese Restaurant Names

While we were back east, my brother and I discussed our shared appreciation for funny Chinese restaurant names, most of which don't seem to have been updated since the 1950s.  We reached the conclusion that a good Chinese restaurant name combines any of the following terms:

1. Yummy
2. Golden
3. Temple
4. Wok
5. Lounge
6. A monosyllabic Chinese-sounding name, e.g., Chang, Wing, Tong

(e.g., Yummy Golden Wok, Shin's Golden Wok Temple, Yummy Lounge Garden.)

In addition, the restaurant must advertise "Chinese and American Food" as its culinary focus and it must be totally unclear how it stays in business.

While driving back from the tax lady yesterday, I passed a joint on Woodstock called "Wong's Garden" - that was a marvelously concise example of a really great Chinese restaurant name.

P.S. B and I took Plan C to the playground at Overlook Park today and experienced a classic Oregonian moment: playing with our kid in the freezing drizzle.

P.P.S. Comparable classic Oregonian moment: hosting a potluck last weekend in which 3/4 of the couples/food-providers showed up with some variation on lentil or chickpea soup.

Definitely Need Drugs...

...if I'm ever going to get on a plane again.  So I'm going to talk to the doctor about that on Thursday.

See, I just got back from a four-day trip to see my inlaws in Cali.  The visit was great - they have always been very sensible about what people ought to do on vacation: almost nothing.  Both of them are wonderful with Plan C as well, so B and I had a chance to sleep in until 7am (yes, I said that), relax on couches, sit on the deck and drink high-octane beer, and do other things we rarely get to do anymore.  Except for the beer.

I had to go back to work, so I flew back last night while the girls stay on for a few more days.  I have three days to do both the kind of work that pays money and the kind that decidedly doesn't: clean up the basement, hang a mirror, etc.  I've also got a date with my home girl K to go eat food and watch her play Skyrim.

Speaking of, man do I wish I got to play complicated contemporary games like Skyrim.  I don't, though, because my computer can't and because neither can my life.

Uh...that's all I got.  Go look at my pics on flickr - if you can't see them, that's because all the ones of the kid are set to only-contacts-on-flickr-can-see-them.  In that case, enjoy the other two.