In the last couple of years, they moved the starting time up earlier in the evening. This is probably a good thing for the riders (except maybe the heat of the race) and it certainly drew the usual crowd. I'm still not thrilled with the simple oval course layout. Too boring at the corners and fast straight sections are somewhat boring too.

I arrived for the conclusion of the women's race, but got to experience the entire men's event. Nothing against the women, it's just one race is usually plenty.

Last year, my stomach was not feeling good, so it made it less fun to hang around. This year the weather was great and it was nice to walk around the whole course, without stomach issues.

I took plenty of photos (as usual), since there is always something to look at and shoot.

Even if you get great shots, there's always a chance to get something different.

Probably the biggest news of this years race was Floyd Landis riding. After being stripped of his 2006 Tour de France win, he wasn't much of a crowd favorite. Z21 had several pieces about him, and the news that ABC was here filming brought extra interest. However, in this particular race, he was just another rider in the peloton.

Towards the end of the race, I camped out in one spot. I used my flash more in this spot and after about 10 laps of the peloton, water came flying a little too close for comfort. I wondered if it was intentional or just coincidence? Hmmm....

Overall a great night, and I've still got plenty to do with the photos from the night. Good stuff.

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In 2008, I was in the zone and got some happy results:

Last year, I watched others get the shot, while I looked forward getting home.

So, last night the 2010 Cascade Cycling Classic kicked off with a prologue race in The Old Mill District. I figured it would be a good chance to warm up for the big downtown race this Saturday. It's sort of like when Darth Vader tests the carbon freeze with Han Solo before trying to get Skywalker, you have to try something to see if it works.

Of course there were plenty of other photographers there with big glass.

I'm sure the same will happen on Saturday. There's too much cycling goodness, not to take a photo or two.

So, unless I eat a bad taco, or hamburger, I'm thinking things are looking up for this years downtown race. Yeah!

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Without further ado, monkeyinabox.net presents (again) the IN MY S.U.V. designer t-shirt series:

Shirts for MEN!
Shirts for WOMEN!
Shirts for Paris Hilton!

Shirts for MEN!
Shirts for WOMEN!

Onesies for the young ones!

While these t-shirts probably aren't produced in sweat shops, there's no promise that the proceeds from the sales will go to anything but more bling for the monkey. That's what the AMERICAN spirit is all about, right?

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So, that plan was scratched long before we knew we'd have a 6-month-year-old who's as big as an 18-month-year-old. That puny dog hardly holds a candle next to the Mighty Magnus. Keeping him lower to the ground made much more sense. Soon he'll be ready for his own wagon.

Had it really been three years since the monkey wagon last rolled ? Yes indeed, so we were ready to roll.

However, we didn't arrive early enough to scope out what other people brought, rather just in time to jump in line and go.

And for the record this was the 11th time the monkey wagon was in a parade. The Teacher did agree that the claps and comments I got during the parade were pretty good.

Another successful Bend Pet Parade.

Later in the afternoon we headed back downtown to watch The Freedom Ride. It had also been a few years since I last witnessed this. It was very odd and awesome last time. Unfortunately this time we arrived a little late and caught the last half of the riders (no loops this time). What I noticed also this time was that no traffic was blocked off and it was mad chaos everywhere.

Some drivers didn't know what to do. People ran across the street and basically everyone ignored the traffic signals.

Afterwards we browsed the booths in Drake Park before heading back home and getting ready for dinner.

For the actual watching of the fireworks, I wanted to give The Teacher and Magnus the best seat in the house, so we went and watched from the upper field at Juniper Elementary, which is close. Magnus certainly got his fill of fireworks (set off by the local nuts) and seemed somewhat interested. However, he did fall asleep for the big show.

Of course the butte didn't burn this year, so there's always something to look forward to in the future.

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Last Thursday The Teacher and myself got a chance to do another date night. Normally, going out alone would be good enough, but we took it to another level last week. First up was dinner at Cork. We had gift certificates from my office's last Christmas party, and saw that they would soon be closing for good. No way would we let those go to waste, so a fine dinner was on the agenda.

We both had the grilled petite filet (which translates to a damn fine piece of meat). Yummy. Definitely a fine meal for our last one at Cork.

Next up was a concert at the Tower Theater. I was somewhat bummed that we missed the recent Old Mill concerts (Band of Horses, She & Him, Goo Goo Dolls), however I didn't regret it when the rain and cold weather showed up. Old Mill concerts in May are always risky, which made this show an easy decision since it was indoors.

First up was Empty Space Orchestra :

Empty Space Orchestra's show was instrumental and I enjoyed it. The Teacher did say it was the kind of music that drives her crazy. I had no worries, since I knew the next band was already her cup of tea.

The Helio Sequence released Keep Your Eyes Ahead in 2008, and it was a cd that I put on my regular album rotation list (in other words it wasn't a listen once and toss out). It was an easy album to like, and when I played it in the car for The Teacher she even stated, "Why don't you play more music like this?"

The big question is how would they be live?

On stage, The Helio Sequence is still just vocalist/guitarist Brandon Summers and keyboardist/drummer Benjamin Weikel. They used some pre-recorded backing sounds and music at times, but it never made you feel like it wasn't a live show. They played every track from Keep Your Eyes Ahead and some songs were very different live (in a very good way).

Overall, this show was great and so was our date night! Woo hoo!

Friday

On Friday we headed over to Astoria for some weekend graduation events. There was a pre-graduation party for The Teacher's (almost) niece being held at the loft at the Red Building, which was the location of our wedding reception. This was the first time we had been back here, so it was a nice reminder of that day, plus Magnus got a chance to check out the place.

He also got another photo moment with his cousin, Lucy.

All in all, a great night back at a great site.

Saturday

With the sunshine out, we decided to go to the beach. Yes, sunshine on the Oregon coast is something you don't pass over, so out we went.

The city of Astoria was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Goonies movie as well. There were plenty of activities and cast members in town, but we had other plans and just did drive-by sightings looking for Corey Feldman.

So down highway 101 we went and soon enough we were in Seaside to experience some carnivals rides and shopping delights.

Next it was down to the actual beach, for Magnus' first time near the actual ocean.

It was fun seeing him check out the sand as well. Hmmmm... what is this magical stuff?

Of course after a short while he had the hang of things and was ready to set up shop for workin' the boardwalk.

We would have stayed longer and made some serious cash, but we had a graduation to attend. So, we got back on the road, got the sand out of our shorts, and headed off to graduation at Knappa High School.

This was the same gym that The Teacher played ruthless basketball in (and graduated from) so it was neat in addition to being hotter than a hot day in Phoenix Arizona. However, it was not a dry heat, so we were grateful that the graduating class was small.

We ended the night on one of the best ways you can in Knappa: a big fat Logger Burger at The Logger. Yummy.

Sunday On Sunday we moved homeward, with one more graduation celebration in La Centre, Washington. Probably the biggest frustration when we arrived in La Centre was the search for a coffee stand, or any place besides the gas station to get some hot drinks. No luck.

We spent the afternoon at a family get together / graduation celebration. A seriously busy weekend, and after it was over we still had the drive home.

However, we were all in good spirits and can't wait to do it again.

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For the record, the previous film that was previously watched on a plane by me, was a huge let down. While the television series was lighthearted and humorous, the movie was way too serious and depressing. To make matters even worse, they cheesed up the ending with a cliche' marriage between Big and Carrie that was supposed to leave you smiling. Hardly.

So, the big movie star (or Applebees man) Corbet returns. I think the only fitting revenge would be for Carrie to be tricked into leaving Big for him, only for him to dump her via a secret message inside an Applebees Carside To Co sack. Yep, sacked....

Sure, it wouldn't be any better than the first one, but I'm sure they could cheese up the ending just to satisfy a few.

Carrie said it best already: "We're so over we need a new word for it.".

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I'd like to say I was much better prepared for the second group shot, but once again I forgot my Duct tape. No securing the children to chairs (which is probably a good thing since mothers of young ones seem to frown upon that sort of thing). The best solution I could come up with this time around was to use a super soft leather couch. You could almost describe it as the "black hole" of couches: once you sat down, you couldn't get up and out.

There was going to be a great theme for the photo as well: Western attire. Yep, all of the cousins had on Western shirts. Of course, there were fits and spats (about wearing the shirts), to go along with the "black hole" sucking them in, so this is what I ended up with:

I had a nice vision for Magnus and his slightly older cousin Lucy. He had his nice blue Western shirt and hers was pink. Could you have asked for anything better? Two cousins sitting next to each other (well, one problem they were too young to sit up) and another...

Well, at least in theory this should get easier as they all get older.

Fingers Crossed.

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(The Wife. on May 27, 2010 9:16 AM) I love it that the flowered waistband of Magnus' jean are so prominent. Excellent.

Today on Regis & Kelly, Matthew Fox was interviewed. Nothing was really revealed about the show, but Fox did speak about moving to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family. Of course those of us in the Bend Blog circle, this is hardly news as Hack Bend gave you every detail you wanted to know about finding the property Matthew & Margherita Fox own in Bend.

I love in the interview that Fox describes Bend as a great place to live to experience the 'four seasons'. I know we have Winter and Summer, but I'm not sure what the other two are. Any ideas?

If you know anything about The Highlands at Broken Top, it was a nice choice for a site if you like things like mountain views and some separation from your neighbors. PIQUE Architecture are the architects of record for the Fox residence (someone else did the original design). I recall reading an article about the firm and they mentioned the project. They even feature the details for the house here.

If you are curious about the actual house, here is a photo of it from about a month ago:

And here are a couple from today:

I'm sure the push is on for the project, if the Fox's are moving here next month. Good stuff.

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On a non-related note, covenants, conditions and restrictions in certain communities were created with the purpose of keeping "the ugly out". Seriously, your neon pink painted house, your 15-foot tall neon statue of Elvis, and your clothesline. Huh? This is certainly not new news. Back in 2007, the story of Susan Taylor (The lady with the clothesline on Awbrey Butte) was hot news when the story made it to the Wall Street Journal.

Seriously, this was an issue that most people couldn't figure out. How could a clothesline be a problem? Obviously, that's why it made the news again and again.

Of course, the issue really didn't go away. Civil disobedience is fun, especially when you take it to the political level to fight back. Yep, when most people thought the major issue on the minds of Senators and members of Congress was health care, it turned out to be a bill allowing clotheslines.

Once again the local story got big again when Stephen Colbert featured this story on the Colbert Report, and on Colbert Nation:

Seriously, I was planning on moving to a country that didn't even know what dryer sheets were.

Stephen Colbert would hardly approve.

I'm sure this story is going to stick around a little longer. It's always great to live in a place that gets known for things like the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or clothesline banning.

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At least after the service we were treated to breakfast. Thankfully it wasn't Dennys either, instead it was a steakhouse/saloon (yes for breakfast). This was downtown Union after all. I decided to order something that sounded light on the menu, not to be too full for lunch later. My sensible choice was chicken-fried steak, hash browns, eggs, toast and coffee. I was pretty certain it wouldn't be nearly as much as they give you at Jakes Diner. Opps. It was a close second.

Now that we were all plenty full, we headed back to the house to pack up and say our good byes. Next we were on the road back home.

After getting our second pass of windmills and cows aplenty, we reached Baker City.

It hardly seemed like breakfast was that long ago, but here we were once again at Paizano's Pizza. Yeah, Kina, I said I'd do my best to make it back.

Of course when we arrived, Magnus decided to have another massive A.E. (as The Teacher likes to call them). Ugggg.

After cleaning up the "sorta-little" guy, we went in. I asked The Teacher if she could help eat a pizza. "Maybe one piece", she replied. Great. The chicken-fried steak, hash browns, eggs, and toast were still somewhat filling my belly. Oh well, time to take one for the team. I ordered up a large Logger (that was the smallest pizza) and a large salad for us to split as well. Now, the first time around I only got a slice. I am NOT a slice person. Slices are for wussies. When I'm hungry, I want a pizza, not a slice. So, even though I wasn't exactly staved, getting a real pizza felt so much better. The Teacher stuck to her word and ate one slice, while I ate the rest of the pizza (minus one slice). I was dang stuffed at this point.

When we ordered Kina was no where to be seen. Some other older couple had their vintage sports car in the parking lot and wanted to show it to Kina. They asked if she was around. Nope. Must have been cocktail hour again. In fact, I sorta of wonder how many times Kina slips out of the place? Hmmmmmmmm... Well, Kina, we did return for a second visit and it was very good, too bad we couldn't have thanked you in person.

Now that we were all plenty full, we had some driving to do. Back on the road we cruised along and didn't make any stops until past John Day at the first John Day Fossil Beds Monument turn off. We drove in and briefly sampled the scenery.

We were all a little tired from the drive at this point, so we only lingered here for a short while.

The Teacher was not exactly thrilled that I wanted to make one more stop at the Painted Hills Unit. I felt like we were so dang close that it was worth the short side trip off the highway. When we arrived I was the only one who got out of the car. I tried not to take too long getting some shots, always checking back on The Teacher in the car who had the Red Vines jar close at hand.

I was pleased with what I saw and certainly will try to make another trip out here in the near future.

By the time we left it was around 6:45pm, and we still had about 40 miles to Prineville. We had hoped to be in Redmond by 7:00pm, but that wasn't going to happen. After reaching Prineville, we were hungry once again, but wanted something quick (very quick). With those limitations, the options were somewhat limited. So, for the second time on the trip, we hit Dairy Queen. It passed the test for me this time, but The Teacher's salad was somewhat lacking.

About 8:15pm we arrived back home. It had been a very long day, but it was certainly filled with plenty of food and scenery. Not a bad combination. We'll have to do something like this again soon.

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(Laura Oien on Apr 30, 2010 2:21 PM) I waited eagerly for each part of your journey to be published. Nice pictures, great story and cute baby!! Sounds like you had a great time.

(keeneye on Apr 30, 2010 6:05 PM) The vintage sports car was a bright red 1934 Model T, for which I snuck out the back door to take a look at. Yes, I was here, mixing martinis in the back room. ;o) The standard reply when asked if I'm here is "No" because 99% of the time it's someone wanting a donation or to sell me something. We need a code word. If you had said, "Tell Kina the monkey is here" I would've appeared from behind the magic curtain as if I were Oz. Thanks for stopping in again, and for the gorgeous photos of Baker. Aloha!

We started the day with breakfast at The Teacher's Aunts and Uncles place, then out for some browsing at a little antique type shop. I drank some coffee and looked for odd things to photograph. I quickly noticed that wouldn't be very hard to do:

After our browsing was done, we drove to La Grande, where I enjoyed the agro-industrial feel of the area:

The Teacher gave me the brief drive-by tour of the different locations of where she lived. I noticed a theme of "I lived here for a year and here for a year..." which made me wonder just how crazy of a college student was she that she never stayed put in one place. Hmmmmm (just kidding). We were soon hungry for lunch, so we scanned the options and decided on something simple. We thought that some burgers and shakes would be a good idea. Nells-N-Out was the place, and it certainly is a great place to get a cheap bite that's dang tasty. With our grub in the paper sack we drove over to the university to eat and then look around.

After walking around the very windy campus, we headed back to the relatives place to regroup for dinner.

On the drive back we made a very brief stop at Hot Lake Springs Hotel to get a couple of photos. I shot from the car and rolled down the window. The Teacher quickly responded to roll up the window because it stunk outside. Sulfur-tastic indeed.

We regrouped back in Union and before we headed out for dinner, Magnus played us all a tune on the piano. Not bad at all for only being four-months old.

Dinner consisted of driving back to La Grande and going to Nannie's favorite joint - #1 China Buffet. Trust me, it was your typical Chinese buffet. Something that seems like a good concept, but in reality never is. She was happy and it certainly was better than the other option she suggested: Dennys.

Guess what? There's going to be a part 3 to recap the final day, so stay tuned. Trust me, it will be worth it.

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Earlier this month I visited Prineville for a work related meeting, which reminded me I had not been here in quite some time. So, this was my second visit (while brief) this month.

We didn't linger here for long. The Teacher realized she needed some batteries, so after those were purchased we headed out on Highway 26 for a very scenic drive. However, since it was a long drive we didn't stop as we passed through Mitchell, Dayville, and Mt. Vernon, passing by fossils and many cows.

John Day was the first destination we planned a brief stop at. The Teacher's family has a lot of history in this area. John Day is where her grandparents lived when she was young, so it was nice to get to put a visual to some of the stories she has told me (the store she would walk to buy "treats" and the creek that they were forbidden to play in near her grandparents old house, etc).

We made a stop at her grandfather's gravestone in Canyon City:

We had hoped to be further along in our trip when lunch time came around, and we didn't want to hang around here too long not being too far into our drive. An ill-decision was made when we got lunch from Dairy Queen. Not that all food from Dairy Queen is bad, but it certainly wasn't anything special on this day. At least it was quick (sort of - with them messing up the order).

Back on the road we passed through Prairie City where "Nannie" moved to from Chicago back in 1950. Sort of a wild story, and it's certainly a different landscape from what Chicago is. Indeed. We drove on and climbed back into higher elevation where there was still snow on the side of the road. I guess when you are at 5100+ feet, there's always a decent chance of snow.

After turning onto Highway 7, we headed towards Baker City. I recalled seeing something about an odd mining dredge located somewhere around here, but forgot to look up the specifics. Thus we didn't stop near Sumpter to see it. Maybe next time. So, instead of stopping for oddness, we made it to lovely Baker City (or Baker as they used to call it) to visit Kina at Paizano's Pizza since she refuses to deliver to Bend.

Of course when you travel with a baby, you never know where fun things happen. Yep, Magnus decided to have a massive A.E. (as The Teacher likes to call them). Nothing like changing a nasty diaper before going in for food. Also, would this be the moment where the $100 challenge would be attempted?

Nope. If only I hadn't tainted my tummy with a Dairy Queen burger earlier and numerous Red Vines. Oh well. The Teacher wasn't even hungry, but I at least had to try a slice. While ordering I asked if Kina was around (since she relentlessly blogs about working everyday), I was shocked when I got a response of "nope, she's out catering". Sort of sounded like an excuse she might have given the employees so that she could slip out and have afternoon cocktails, but I'm assuming when she left there were a few pizzas under her arms.

I ate my tasty slice and snapped a few photos. As we were leaving Kina popped out. I mentioned how we were sorta of in between meals, and she asked us to come back on the return trip. Maybe it wouldn't be cocktail hour next time around.

We were pretty sick of being in the car, but we got back in and headed North on I-84. Here there were cows aplenty. When we exited around North Powder there were also windmills aplenty. Soon it was cows and windmills aplenty:

We arrived in Union and surprised "Nannie" and made her day extra special with Magnus wearing his Green Bay Packers shirt. Mission accomplished.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we find out if What happened in Union, stays in Union, if Magnus rode any cows, and if on the return trip we went back to Piazano's Pizza.

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After doing some initial research and shopping around, we decided to get the Baby Einstein musical motion activity jumper from Target (okay, technically it's called a jumper and not a bouncer by the folks at Baby Einstein). At the store we noticed the box had been taped. It was hard to know why, but this was the model we wanted so we loaded up the box in the cart and checked out.

After getting home, we opened up the box and noticed that the box wasn't accidentally opened and taped back up. Someone opened this already.

All of the smaller boxes inside the bigger box were taped up in the same fashion. Hmmmmmm..

As we pulled out the pieces, we noticed that some of them were dirty looking. The Teacher and I looked at each other, not sure what to think. As we looked closer at one of the crossbars, we saw it. A curly black hair. The Teacher promptly exclaimed "that's a pubic hair".

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't but that was enough for us. We shoved everything back into the large box (including the mysterious piece of hair) and drove back to Target.

At the customer service counter at Target, we explained our disgust with the used bouncer. The employee stated that they don't sell used baby items. We quickly told her that it was hard to tell it had been opened. The Teacher then used the secret catchphrase: pubic hair.

INSTANT EXCHANGE.

For some reason they had plenty more in the back storage area. Obviously, that's where the hair-free versions are stored.

Magnus certainly is happy to be bouncing without your unwanted hair.

No reason to take this farther. It wasn't on my steak or anything like that. Thankfully.

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Generally things go pretty well with them, but lately I feel as if the Local Dog has been pooping in my yard and running off. That sort of thing does not make me happy. Let me explain.

Last night while watching a recorded show on my Moxi box, the damn thing crashed. This is the second Moxi box we are on, and based on The Teacher mentioning that it did the same thing earlier in the day, we might be headed for number three. After the actual event, it rebooted and just let me say that the rebooting process is slow..pouring molasses from a jar slow. I was right in the middle of an exciting scene in 24 when this happened. Jack Bauer would not be pleased and neither was I.

To add to my frustration, today at work the cable modem stopped receiving a connection, with the ominous blinking "receive" green light. This happened mid-morning and usually when something like this happens other people in the office ask me if I know that "email is down". Yep, I always do. Of course, I always get to tell them, it's an outside problem and I can't do anything about it. It's also great when you have no timetable estimation of when things might be working again.

Usually they resolve themselves and things work soon enough. But, the unknown waiting game is never a good thing at work.

So, after an hour and a half of waiting, the next rational thing to do is call up BendBroadband business support on the phone. It didn't take long to reach the message that stated "we are having an issue in Central Oregon and are working diligently to fix it, however we do not have an estimate of when this will be resolved, thank you and have a Sparkling Day in Central Oregon". Are you serious? Bob Shaw providing technical updates for BendBroadband? Okay, it wasn't his voice, but they stole his quote.

Stuff like this is great when you have to email consultants, upload files to Buzzsaw, update the FTP site for a current project, and estimate hours to convert CAD files. Oh, at least I could do one of those. Nice too when a large download in progress gets axed, a webinar I was listening to gets interrupted, and my email program keeps telling me there is "no such host".

Damn you local dog, damn you!

I do understand that maybe someone drove a Hummer into the BendBroadband transformer, or Jed Clampet was shooting at some food and up through the ground came... a fiber optic cable. Broadband that is, BendBroadband.

Usually when you call support or start writing a blog about it, things start working again and you feel silly for getting all worked up about it. Hmmmm... it's still not working. The Local Dog is certainly not being good.

Two and a half hours later, the phone message now says there was a major power outage and they are rebooting their systems. If it's anything like my Moxi at home, there's going to be a wait. I think I need to alert Jack Bauer to find the Local Dog... Grrrrrrr...

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(drewr on Apr 8, 2010 8:50 PM) Nice piece. BBB is quickly becoming the Comcast/Qwest of Central Oregon. (or maybe they already have).

Yesterday was Easter. I could tell I didn't get quite enough sleep the night before, and there was no coffee in the house. Yes, during the past week I drank up all of my coffee, something that I normally don't do at home, but it was essential during the prior week. Would Peeps and Cadbury Cream Eggs be enough to keep me running during the day?

After the Easter baskets were found, it was photo time. Yeah, I still jump for joy at the opportunity for a good photo. I was heavily anticipating using the Easter monkey with Magnus.

Ahhhh... decided to do a family group shot as well:

After that it was time for a movie: The Fantastic Mr. Fox which didn't disappoint. I could tell during the movie that I was not running on full energy. Of course, it doesn't take much effort to watch a movie. As the ending credits rolled, we jumped up to get the turkey cooking.... This actually deserves some explanation.

Back to last Thanksgiving, I previously mentioned how The Teacher scored two Thanksgiving meals. While I was at home eating tacos, hot wings and anything else I could slap BBQ sauce on, I was also stocking up for and second (and third) Thanksgiving meal at home after we all returned from having Thanksgiving at her parents (once is never enough for the monkey). Thankfully, we have a large freezer, because over the last few months two turkeys have been sitting in it.

So, it made sense, sort of, to have a Thanksgiving type meal for Easter. Now, the funny part that I can't completely explain, is somehow we managed to cook the turkey upside down. Yes, you read that correctly. Hell, I even tried to carve it upside down. Yes, the bottom of the turkey had a beautiful golden skin, while the top with all the good meat was submerged in turkey juice.

Martha Stewart would not be proud. A pineapple upside cake - yes, a turkey - no! no! no! Since I can't come to any other conclusions but this one, I can boldly blame sleep deprivation. At least we still have another turkey to get it completely right.

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