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January 31, 2006
I think this may only appeal to a limited cultural and generational demographic, but the recent Saturday Night Live Chronicles of Narnia rap really cracked me up. I only watch SNL about once a year these days, and usually I find all the sketches so lame and unfunny that I can't watch again for another year. But this really cracked me up.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:39 PM | Comments (2)
January 30, 2006
The toilet paper I bought today includes this on the packaging: "Soft, but not too soft" (emphasis in original), which leads me to wonder if there's really a problem with toilet paper that's too soft. I've certainly never encountered any. What does that even mean? Maybe it lacks in structural integrity, and falls apart at key moments. Only, that doesn't seem to be "too soft," just "insufficiently sound."
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2006
Woo-hoo! I bowled 102.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
The other shoe drops
Ben's car was hit by a red-light-running C-TRAN bus this morning as he was heading into work. He's physically fine, but the front end of his car is a mess and the bus drove away with a nasty dent.
At first the bus driver claimed that Ben had run the light, but by the end of the day C-TRAN had acknowledged its liability for the crash.
So now we're waiting to hear whether the insurance folks declare Ben's car totaled or whether they're willing to invest in rebuilding the front end. From what Ben's told me about the state of his Escort, it sounds like we might be car shopping this weekend.
In the mean time, he's driving a rented Chevy Malibu.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:27 PM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2006
Big news
I sent this e-mail to my friends at work today:
Hey folks,
E-mail is an impersonal way to get the news out, but it’s also efficient. So here goes: I’ve accepted a job at The Columbian, in Vancouver. I gave my two weeks notice today. I’ll be working through Feb. 10 (or maybe Feb. 11, so I can finish that last weekend utility shift).
At The Columbian, I’ll be covering high tech for the business desk. It’s an exciting opportunity to focus and grow as a business reporter, but I’m also sad to be leaving The Daily News. I’ve really loved this job, more than any other job I’ve ever had. This is a great paper, staffed by great people, and I had hoped to spend more time here.
I’m sad to be leaving, but I’m sure you all will continue to do amazing things without me.
Courtney
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2006
January weddings, part two
I'm back from the pirate-ninja wedding. It actually was pirate and ninja themed. And there were live sharks and real dolphins dancing about in massive aquarium tanks embedded in the walls. Ninja Emily and her pirate captain seem very happy together.
I stayed at Cathy and Gregg's house in Minneapolis, a cool house in a cool city for a cool couple. It's interesting to go from my smalltown rural life to a racy urban world.
There's something inspiring about people who just are who they are, express what they express, create what they create, live how they want to live, and don't let the world hem them in.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
At the risk of appearing silly in public, I've decided to wear my new blue and white cloud pajamas on the plane tonight. It's the best way to be comfortable en route to Minneapolis and the pirate-ninja zoo wedding, I figure. I've got clothes to change into before I pick up my rental car and drive away. Here's to catching up with old friends.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:17 PM | Comments (1)
The season of weddings is upon us
I'm flying to Minneapolis tonight for Pirate+Ninja=Wedding, which promises to be a good time. Except for the red eye plane trip part, grrr.
Yesterday I got an invite to my cousin's Las Vegas wedding, which is in March. I probably won't know until close to the RSVP date whether I can manage to attend. I'm pretty cashed out at this point, and trying to save up money so Ben and I can take some kind of a honeymoon. If I can't make it to Vegas, at least I can watch the live wedding web cast.
Modern technology is an amazing thing.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:39 AM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
sports
The Trail Blazers, after a very bad start to the season, have won four consecutive games. Before I knew Ben, I can't imagine I would ever have cared one way or the other. But tonight I am quite excited.
Meanwhile, a number of people at work are excited about the Seattle Seahawks. Some of them are even getting together this Sunday to watch the big game.
"The Seahawks?" I had to ask. "Is that football?"
Turns out it is. But I don't live with a football fan, and I'm having a hard time caring about the Seahawks.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
contemplations on the weather
Today is day 32 of rain in Longview, the Washington town where I work. I'm rooting for 40 consecutive days just so we can run an article alluding to Noah's flood. Or 41 days, so we can write, "Even Noah didn't have to put up with this."
The wet stuff started falling Dec. 18, and it will have to continue until Feb. 5 to meet Longview's 50-day record, set in 1988. My colleague Evan is starting to become an expert on this stuff.
It's not really getting to me, but Ben and I have been out of town for a lot of the wet weather. We spent a week in northern Virginia in late December, two days in Phoenix earlier this month. This weekend I'm going to Minneapolis, where forecasters predict highs in the upper 20s and sun in the sky.
The rain is starting to bother some folks at work. Ben says he likes it, though. Cloudy skies and wet air keep temperatures higher up here. Our electric bill -- which is how we pay for our heat -- has averaged around $50 for each of the last two months. Ben knows people out east who have had to pay 14 times that on their natural gas bills this winter.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:45 AM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2006
Phoenix pics
I've uploaded some of the pictures that Amy took in Phoenix. Check 'em out.
I really like this picture:
It's up on the wedding site I've pulled together.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2006
Yesterday I got to ride a Segway. It wasn't mind blowing. The amazing thing, in fact, was the ordinariness and ease of the gyroscope-and-batteries device.
It was a fun toy, but not something I'm likely to use my current disposable income on. It got me thinking of things I'd buy if I had vast financial resources. I'd say the Segway would make the list, but it wouldn't be in my top five. It might make it to the top ten.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:35 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2006
Meeting Ben
Four years and one day ago, I was feeling utterly lonely and composing a post about misery for my web journal. Then the phone rang. I answered, and heard a stranger's voice. Somehow we ended up talking for more than an hour. I hadn't posted the entry yet, and by the end of the phone call I felt hopeful and changed it to something slightly less melancholy. The next night, he called again and we talked again. We've talked almost every night since for the past four years and one night.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:15 PM | Comments (1)
January 07, 2006
Notes on Phoenix
Phoenix is hot most of the year, but here in January the highs are in the low '80s and the breezes are nice. Everything is brown. The ground. The critters. The buildings. The walls that make tunnels of interstates. Occasional mirrored highrises reflect the brown of everything around. On overpasses the world turns the car is as high at the palm tree tops, and finally we see green. There are lots of interstates. There is lots of sprawl.
Phoenix is a massive city, growing larger every day. In 1990, the population was 983,403. By 2004 it was 1,418,041 -- a 44 percent increase. That's just inside the city limits. It's booming.
The wedding, at the Phoenix Zoo, was lovely. Lavendar and Star Wars were the themes. The bar was open, and I took full advantage. Ben and I are taking notes and trying to learn lessons for our own wedding.
Tonight: Mexican food, the real stuff of the southwest. Tomorrow: An early morning, a flight, and back to Woodland.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:32 PM | Comments (2)
January 05, 2006
January weddings, part 1
Ben and I are flying to Phoenix today to witness and celebrate his cousin's wedding.
The poor cats are only just recovering from the trauma of being left alone during our Christmas travels. Now we're abandoning them again. They're hardy critters, though, and I think they'll survive.
As to whether Ben and I survive, that's another matter. Ben's been sick for a couple of days. I hope he's feeling well enough to adequately perform his usher duties.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2006
New year, new goals
I hereby resolve in 2006:
- To read at least five books from the MLA's top 100 non-fiction works.
- To add $1,000 in savings to my personal net worth.
- To get through this wedding without destroying my relationships with Ben, my mom, any of my friends, or his mom.
- To lose the five (or seven or however many) pounds I gained by eating cake and cookies all winter long.
- To buy at least three fun and sexy dresses and find occasion to wear them.
- To aquire at least six new albums and listen to them until I know the music well.
- To spend at least four nights in the great outdoors.
- To complete the Ape Caves long and difficult underground trail again.
- To appreciate the blessings in my life.
- To create something unexpected.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2006
I am up way too late playing Civilisation IV. It's a good game. My character's name is "Master of the Universe." I am doing my best to take over the world, but those sneaky Romans may thwart me yet.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:11 AM | Comments (1)
January 01, 2006
Last night I actually went to a new year's party that didn't suck. And by "didn't suck," I mean that the folks I was with got through the night without anyone barfing or crying in a bathtub. Right on.
We went to the Hotel Monticello (pronounced with a sibillant s instead of a "ch"). A new year's eve roundup in the paper promised live music, $1 champagne at midnight, a free raffle and "variety." I never figured out what the variety was -- maybe the plastic leis and noisemakers qualified? I got a raffle ticket, but it was so boisterous at the bar that I couldn't hear or see any numbers getting called out. The champagne and the live music were real enough, though.
Each of the last five years has been better than the year before. I feel like I'd be tempting fate if I wish for continued improvement in 2006. So just continued awesomeness is all I ask.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:00 PM | Comments (2)
Palindrome of the new year
2006: Onward and upward; rawk and roll; woo-ah. Rock and roll. Onward and upward. 2006.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:48 AM | Comments (0)