Unemployment, Day 39

Took Mom to work again today. It has been unusually sunny and blue skied. Don't get me wrong, it is indeed nice. The house gets pretty stuffy though, unless I open all the windows and the patio door. I hope that their summer is this nice. It would make up for last year, which most everyone agrees was just rotten.

I made a huge batch of my famous chocolate chip cookies today. (9 dozen of them). After cleaning all that up I decided to do some reading for a bit before heading back to pick Mom up.

We took some cookies to Aunt Reva, and informed her that we will be taking her to the eye doctor tomorrow morning.
Hopefully she likes the cookies. I told her she should have the cookies instead of dinner, it'll keep her young.

Pizza for dinner, while we watched baskteball on tv. (Chicago vs Boston has now gone to game 7, which means we'll be watching the game Saturday..... )

Dad and I shot some pool after dinner. I'm trying to shake off the cobwebs, as my younger brother Drew is coming by after work Friday to play pool with Dad and I. We'll see how I do.

So weird that I head back to Portland in a few days. Where did all the time go?

Unemployment, Day 38

Took Mom to work today so that I could have a vehicle and do some running around.

Came home, roasted a pound of garlic cloves, made two 13 x 9 inch pans of lasagna, home made meat sauce, after grating a block of romano, and a double block of parmesan. Lasagna is now in the freezer for Sunday dinner.

It was 67 degrees today. That is crazy!

Anchorage is having a nicer spring this year than their entire summer was last year.

Played a few games of 8 ball with dad after dinner.

Ice cream.

Ice cream.

Me want ice cream now.

Unemployment, Day 37

Lazy day in the morning. Got up, played my game for a while, caught up on some podcasts.

Travis and I (and Derek too) talked over skype.

Went shopping with Mom after work, bought supplies and groceries to make Sunday family dinner.
(My lasagna, caesar salads, garlic bread)

Watching tv with Mom for the rest of the evening.
I'm not keen on the overly dramatized 'reality' shows.

Read through the documents provided from Gramma Nori's condo association. Nothing new there, but it is now written down. It will be interesting to see the resolution. I feel bad for the poor people in the North building that haven't had homes in 2 years.

Found German Chocolate Cake ice cream. Wow. That was the last thing I needed to discover.

Unemployment, Day 36

Lunch with Grandma Nori and Eric and Mom today. Went to mexican. Food was ok.
It didn't agree with me, and I felt pretty green an hour after lunch.

Did some shopping, nothing important really, then went back to Grandma's condo to hang out.

Then we had another visit with Aunt Reva, and then grocery shopping.
Back home for a quiet afternoon unwinding.

Watched some tv with mom, didn't really feel like dinner since lunch didn't seem to like me.

One week left until I head back to Portland.

Turnagain, again, again, again.

Made the trip back home from the cabin. The cabin driveway is getting more treacherous as the snow melts down. Mud under snow, which has ice between it, and in some cases running water. You can't always tell when your foot lands it if will be slick or not. I managed to make it up and down all weekend long and not fall once! I feel pretty good about that.

Driving back through the Turnagain Pass, it makes me remember being out there and snowmachining, and worrying about the idiots that like to 'high-mark'. Great way to start and avalanche, and kill themselves. (Or more likely they'll kill someone else.)

I have cell service almost all the way around the arm, so that is somewhat reassuring.

Home again. At least my home away from home, when my home isn't the cabin in the woods.

Laundry and Midori.

I'm unwinding.

Looking forward to my final week in Anchorage before I return to Portland.
Job hunting in Anchorage hasn't really been any easier than in Portland, which was somewhat surprising.

It is still 50 degrees outside, and while the sun is slowly going down, it is still light outdoors.

Food Coma...

Slept in, kind of, until 8 AM. Sunlight was pouring in the window this morning.


Mom decided to make blueberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast. After breakfast I helped Dad finish assembling the new cabinets for the cabin, and then we hung them. The problem with hanging new cabinets is that the logs (and therefore the 'wall') that comprise the cabin are not flat. So, trying to true up and square the cabinets against the logs, and then get them to be level on multiple axis was fairly challenging. Once that was trued up, then came the task of getting the cabinet doors to adjust so they open and close without banging in to one another. That took up almost all of the afternoon.

Went into Hope for dinner. Had a pasta caprese salad. Tons of roasted garlic cloves. So good. I'm still tasting garlic.
Dessert was walnut pie. Like pecan pie, but 1000 times better, at least in my opinion. Mom bought the whole pie, and we took it home with us. I don't hold much hope for the survival of the pie. It will be gone soon, this is my solemn pledge!

Walking up the cabin driveway after eating a bunch of food..... that is an entirely different feeling. I'm glad that I didn't hurl. I am getting better at coming up the driveway though. Just about the time I'll be okay with dragging my fat ass up the grade, the snow and ice and mud will be gone, and we'll be able to drive up it.

Coming up, watching Cops, and tequilla shots.

Tomorrow we head back to the big bad city.

Unemployment, Day 35

Woke up at about 8 this morning. It is odd to sleep in a place as bereft of sound as the cabin. I'm so used to sleeping with the dog, and the A/C unit running, and Travis breathing. The extreme quiet is sometimes distracting. I'll probably adjust just in time to return home. And then not be able to sleep. Oh well.

We hiked back down the driveway this morning around 11 and went for a drive. We went into Cooper Landing and had lunch at the Sunrise Inn and Cafe. It has been a place we have stopped a few times on our way back or forth from Homer. Before the Sunrise Cafe, we would often stop in at Summit Lake Lodge. Summit Lake Lodge is only usually open part of the year so we can't always stop in there when we wish to.

It was a pretty drive, we even saw a few bald eagles. It was a pretty warm day, sunny and 45 degrees.

Dave came up for dinner tonight. I made enchiladas on Thursday morning that we brought up here, Mom made some cheesy biscuits, and we sat around eating and drinking margaritas. We watched a movie and then Dave decided to head back home.

Dad is pulling down two of the kitchen cabinets, they were not quite up to holding all of the stuff so he bought new ones. The new ones look really nice. Plus I suspect they'll be more stable, and a lot more level.

Its 10 PM and still light outside. :)

Unemployment, Day 34

Packed everything up and headed to the cabin. Sunrise , Alaska. Population.... 10?

Well, 3 more people now.

Mom and Dad and I had dinner here with Dave, my folks friend. He helps out with the cabin, especially when they are back in the city. Driveway is still snowed in, so we had to hike from the road up. UP! U P ! Damn, hiking that huge driveway..... sloped, with snow, what a workout. Especially since we had 3 days of food and clothes and stuff.

Pizza and tequilla. Tequilla and pizza.

Ate too much.

It might snow tonight, 34 degrees, very very cloudy.
Not sure what we'll do tomorrow if we get snowed in.

It is nice to be out of the city.

I miss being 'home' though. It is awesome to be around family, but I also with my 'family' was here with me.

Unemployment, Day 33

Busy Day!

Got up, did a bunch of grocery shopping for Mom since we need the groceries to head up to the cabin.
Ran across town to get my hair cut. It has been years since I've had someone else cut my hair. She suggested that I just shave my head. She says I'd look sexy. Dunno about that. I worry about the dents in my head.

Then I decided to pop in and visit Aunt Reva, Aunt Lee was there as well so I got to hang out and visit with them for a while. It was good to see Aunt Lee. She and I have a definite bond.

Then I raced back home to change, and then headed downtown to pick my Mom and Grandma Nori up. We all then headed across town to Glacier Brewhouse. Mom reserved a big banquet room, and we all were together for Eric's 40th birthday dinner.

Food was pretty good, creme brulee for dessert! Awesome!

(Their bar was a bit lame, although I didn't get beer.)

Unemployment, Day 32

Eric picked me up today and I took him to the movies. We went to see 'Observe and Report' for his 40th Birthday.
That was a fantastic movie, with an ending that I didn't expect or see coming. It wasn't really a comedy as such, although it was a dark comedy to an extent. Don't go see it if you expect something hilarious and uplifting. But, I do strongly suggest seeing it, it is indeed excellent.

I made meat-loaf for dinner, Dad actually ate with us. Victory!

Unemployment, Day 31

Mom and I had lunch with Eric and Gramma Nori again. We bumped into Eric's father in law. Lunch was ok, I think they were all much more impressed with the food than I was.

The rest of the day was spent looking for fun things to put together in a basket for Eric's birthday. (Tomorrow)

Kinda boring I know, but it was good to have a low key day.

Food, frivolity, fun

Sunday morning, slow moving, didn't sleep all that well. House was empty, but I think I was a little keyed up after being up all night. I have thrown my rhythm off a bit.

Took my Dad's gihugic Expedition and put fuel in it, and then went through the car wash. I forget how much of a behemoth that vehicle is, as I'm trying to turn tight corners in order to get the thing aligned so that it falls into the car wash track. Lots of people were at the car wash. I gave myself an hour worth of time to get fuel, get the car washed, and meet up with Gramma Nori at 11 AM.

I made it with zero time to spare. I guess all the road grime and ash and gravel and dirt make everyone in this city want to wash their vehicle too. Can't say as I blame any of them.

Gramma Nori and I walked to the Pioneer Home to have lunch with my Great Aunt Reva. Sunday apparently was visiting day for a great many families. It is good to see that other residents get visitors. Not thrilled by the food, personally, but both Aunt Reva and Gramma Nori said it was good. (Citrus Glazed Pork Loin, Cranberry stuffing, and some odd greenish diced vegetable that I couldn't identify.) It was perhaps me more than anything that didn't get along with the food. I wasn't there for the food though, so that was good.

So, this is a semi-retirement home. People who have lived in Alaska for a long time, contributed, and meet certain other residency requirements can get a unit in the Pioneer Home. Most of the residents are older, 70+ in years. Many of them may not have family or other options of living. It is a care facility that has different levels of care based upon need.

I make these points because one of the 'resident's' kids (35 to 40 years old) decided to perform his 'band' in the dining hall. During dining hours. With us captive audience.

So, did he roll out Perry Como, or Frank Sinatra, or even some Michael Buble? Noooooo.
In a room full of older people who can't hear well, they played :


Kenny Wayne Shepherd- Blue On Black

Seether featuring Amy Lee (From Evanescence) - Broken

Sting's cover of Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing


This was probably not the audience he wanted to roll out for.
He also wasn't particularly good. I realize he's a band trying to make his way. But seriously, have some pride man.

I guess I would have chosen different songs, to be sure.

My cousin Joseph, Reva's Grandson, arrived after lunch as we were visiting with Reva, so we left them to catch up.
Reva has quite the social calendar, and is likely the envy of other residents who don't get visitors that often. (If at all).

Mom and Dad made it home from the cabin, and it was a quiet and lazy Sunday evening.
(We had Carl's Jr for dinner, and I ate way too much. Plus, they were out of diet coke, but luckily they had Diet Dr. Pepper.)

Spamalot!

Spamalot was pretty good.

Drew picked me up and we tried to go out to dinner to a nice fancy pants place for dinner. We were much surprised and disappointed to find out that it is apparently prom weekend here in Anchorage. That means that lots of parties are out and celebrating and taking up space. We wound up going to an adjacent restaurant to find something to eat.

It is nice to catch up with Drew. We did have good food and plenty to talk about.
We tried to grab a drink when we made it downtown, near the performing arts center, but just about every bar within walking distance was already packed. It was a nice walk about town though.

The show started on time, and had a 20 minute intermission. It was a good show, and the audience was able to get involved, as well as the cast throwing in some local jabs to make the show have a more Alaskan feel. (Including a jab at the current governor, although my brother said it was an 'homage'.)

Back home, quiet house, tired.
Tomorrow is lunch with Gramma Nori and Aunt Reva at the pioneer home.

Unemployment, Days 26-30

Monday, Mom and I had lunch with Gramma Nori and Eric. Eric and Gramma have lunch every Monday as a kind of staying in touch goal. It is nice to to see the family. Food seems to be a central theme. :)

Tuesday Mom went to work, so I was left home alone for the day. It was nice to just be lazy, read a book, play on my computer, and have the cats harass me. Cat hair everywhere. My clothes, my suitcase, my eyes. Its everywhere! I'm doing ok enough, but my allergies are not happy with the cats. C'est la vie.

Wednesday I helped Mom and Dad take the Expedition into the shop. It makes a hissing boiling noise in the HVAC system of the car, it is very loud, definitely noticeable. They still hadn't figured out what was wrong with it, so they kept it overnight.

Thursday the shop determined there was a leak in the rear A/C unit. About $600 to fix / replace. Don't know if they'll bother, A/C isn't really all that necessary in Alaska. It is a 'nice to have' thing. Unless it inhibits the rest of the heating system, not sure if it makes any sense to have it replaced. Dad will figure out what he wants done.

Also spent most of the day with Gramma Nori. She and I went to lunch at a local cafe she really likes. I had soup and half a sandwich. Good soup, great sandwich. (Hard to go wrong with bacon.) Afterwards went to a doctor appointment with her, and then hung out and talked and watched the news before accompanying her to her Condo Associate Meeting.

If you own are a member of a condo association, make sure that you have 'special assessment' insurance.
My grandmother's condo building consists of two towers, one North, and one South. The North tower had a fire 2 years ago, and all the units were lost. The Condo Association was woefully underinsured for the value of the North tower. EACH member of the association, both towers, will have to pay their share of a special assessment to help rebuild the condos that were lost in the fire.

My 80+ year old grandmother has to cough up $70,000 to a condo building, and she already owns her own unit by the way, so that others can have their homes re-built. I understand that is what happens, but wow. She should be thinking about grandchildren and great-grandchildren and fun and leisure. Now she's having to look for a mortgage loan to pay for something she already owns. Yes, the building should have been insured for more, but it wasn't. The meeting went well enough. I feel bad for the people who lost their homes. At least Gramma still has all her possessions and her condo and has had a place to live for the last two years. People in the North tower were not so lucky.

Friday did some running around with Mom and helped her get ready for her and Dad's weekend trip to the cabin.
I'm staying in town so that I can go to Spamalot with Drew on Saturday. I'm all alone in the house. Only the cats and the fish to keep me company.

Looking forward to the weekend. :) I'll have more later, after the show!

Easter Weekend

Saturday Mom and I did some last minute running around, and then set the table for Sunday brunch. Dad made pico de gallo, along with some pretty fantastic cinnamon rolls. Mom made a pineapple salsa. Dinner and drinks at Chili's. Not really dinner, as much as a bunch of appetizers that we all shared. I think I like that more. Everyone gets to sample a little bit of everything.

Sunday Easter brunch was great. Aunt Reva didn't feel up to coming. Gramma Nori, Eric and Kelli, Drew and Jennifer, myself, and Mom and Dad all sat around the dining room table and ate up a nice feast. We had mimosa and ham and eggs and food galore. (And those killer cinnamon rolls). Pretty awesome to have the family together. My Dad took plenty of pictures, although one of his camera flash settings makes me feel like I'm having a strobe light retinal scan.

Once everyone left, it was a pretty low key evening. Nice to decompress.

Unemployment, Days 24 - 25

Thursday Mom and I went and had lunch with Gramma Nori. We went to Pizza Plaza, which I've not been to in many many years. Good food, not much has changed. Then Mom and I went to the Pioneer Home to visit Aunt Reva. We chatted with her while she had a cup of tea, and then we took her down to have her hair done so that she'd be ready for family brunch on Easter Sunday.

Friday Mom and I spent the day shopping around town for Easter supplies and stuff.
Kind of felt under the weather, which wasn't helped by the fact that i took a zyrtec. Boy that stuff makes me feel like crap.

We had dinner at my younger brother's house. (He and his wife Jennifer invited us over). Jennifer cooked a very nice meal of braised spare ribs in her crock pot. It was a nice evening of drinking and conversation. They seem to be settling in nicely to their 'new' house. Jennifer will be leaving for Japan for 5 weeks on Monday so it was nice to see her before she left.

Drew invited me to go with him to see Spamalot, since Jennifer will not be able to go with him, since she'll be out of town. It will be fun to see. I'm looking forward to it.

Landings...

Made it to Anchorage with out any issues. Flight left early. Arrived 5 minutes early. It was one of the smoothest and quietest flights I've ever had.

(Maybe the 3 Bacardi and Cokes helped?)

Tomorrow (Later today really) Lunch with Grandma and Aunt Reva.

Its weird being in a bed without Travis and Beau.

I feel oddly homesick. Already? Sheesh.

G'nite!

Unemployment, Days 21 - 23

Monday I spent most of the day trying to do some things around the house, while getting ready to leave for my Alaska trip. Failed.

I just don't feel motivated. But then, I always have been kind of slacking when I am left to myself. It would be different if I was traveling with someone else, I'd feel the need to be more responsible. Not the case though.

Tuesday I hung around the house waiting for the cable guy to show up so that he could bring me my new HD cable box with HD DVR. I decided that I was going to make stew in the crock pot for dinner. I had prepped the vegetables the night before, along with the meat, so it makes it pretty quick to assemble once everything is all said and done.

I ended up making a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for the boys. I figured it would be something to leave them for when I was gone. (Even though they likely won't last more than a few days...)

The cable guy was late, he was also fairly new. Good guy. Beau scared him. He spent an enormous amount of time trying to get everything to work. Took him nearly two hours to get a new box up and running, and at no point did he need to run new line either from the pole, or inside the house. I have no idea why it took two hours to get a cable box working. Isn't it all electronic? Aren't these things pre programmed?

I had to also go to a 'Re-Employment Orientation Seminar' for the state. This is to keep my unemployment payments. The class was pretty much a waste of time. There are so many people out of work right now. It amazed me the sheer volume of people. It also didn't help that it was nearly 80 degrees yesterday, in this tiny cramped classroom, with a ton of people and no air conditioning. The UI folks want to make sure that I am doing everything i can to replace my job.

Stew was fabulous. Tate came over for dinner, as he had been helping Derek fix his truck.
We fed him, and gave him cookies too. This is bribery to help him help Derek put my new transmission and transfer case in while I am gone. It will be nice not to be 'popping the clutch' on my automatic transmission! :)

Wednesday (today) was sheer craziness. I just didn't seem to have enough time to get things done. I ran out to do some last minute errands. Everyone seemed nuts. Travis tells me that I always say that, and perhaps the problem is me. Indeed, it probably is me.

I managed to drop a glass mixing bowl while I was fixing dinner. Full of panko and butter, the glass bowl shattered as it hit the side of the stove, then it bounce against the floor, sending shrapnel everywhere, and panko crumbs in my hair, all over the oven, and even on the ceiling. I think I managed to keep the glass out of the macaroni and cheese. We'll find out tomorrow.


Right now, I'm sitting at the airport at my gate. Waiting to board the plane.

Going to Alaska to visit the family for a month.

I miss Travis and Beau already.

Part of me wants the month to go fast. And part of me doesn't.

Lisa!

Saturday Travis and I went to see Lisa Lampanelli in concert. Hilariously funny, even at parts where most people probably wouldn't laugh out loud. It was a good show, made better by the fact that there was a deaf interpreter that was signing the show for a hearing impaired person who was attending the show. Watching her try to translate and spell out things, while trying to inflect Lisa's humor, etc. was too funny. I had to stop watching after a while though, it got to be far too distracting.

If you get a chance, go see her. If you can't go see her, watch her on HBO or Comedy Central. Well worth the offensive nature.
(I was not offended at all.)

Unemployment, Day 20

My new, self assembled TV Stand

After further debate, I decided that I wanted the cabinet that we saw at Freds. We went back Thursday night to buy it, and then I took to the task of assembling it and putting it together. Travis played XBox while I had parts spread out all over the kitchen and living room. It was a ton of parts, screws, fasteners, nails, cams, and hidden cam locks. I had boards and pieces all over the living room.

I managed to get the base cabinet all assembled Thursday, but it was past midnight when I decided to call it a day.

Friday morning I finished assembling the drawers. What a pain. I know those things are pretty sturdy though. I did wait until 9 AM to start banging around. You can see the final results in the picture above.

Travis had to help me move the old cabinet and tv out of the way.
The house is still a bit of a cluttered mess, but I hope to get that all cleaned up before we head out Saturday for Lisa Lampanelli.

Unemployment, Day 18 & 19

Lazy Wednesday, didn't do much, although I cleaned up some piles of papers. I love the paper shredder. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to fill up the bin with discarded minutia. Tacos for dinner, I managed to get them extra spicy. Derek and Travis really seemed to like them, they repeated on me for the remainder of the evening.

Thursday morning started with a crashing of the glass recycling. Those dudes sure know how to raise a racket. I don't think they could have made a louder clanking glass noise if there were standing over my head with a bunch of marbles in a punch bowl.

Travis and I got up and headed for Ikea, as well as some errands. I'm looking for a stand for the TV that doesn't look stupid, but also is a tad higher than the dining room table. I would like to have something to set the tv on that doesn't get obscured. On the other hand, it needs to look nice, and be functional. Found what I wanted online, however it is a tad out of my price range, not to mention being more expensive than the tv itself.

Had lunch at the local Chinese place we normally go to. Food wasn't good. Travis really liked his. Derek needed us to get his tool box and bring it down to his shop, since his vehicle is apparently dying. Seems to be an epidemic.

After lunch, we went to the mall, Sears to exchange a broken socket for Derek, Macy's to pick up a new saute pan, then down to the Island to rescue Derek.

Stopped at Hollywood Freds to look at furniture. They have something that I like that will probably work for the tv. I need to think about it though. Trying not to spend money just for the sake of spending money.

Unemployment, Day 17

Tuesday was pretty low key. Spent most of the day half heartedly looking for jobs. Did make a few contacts, and managed to get my resume out to an agency who specializes in the software I am trained in. I doubt they want me though. I have lots of specialized experience and not a lot of project management with newer software. We'll see.

Derek found a barely used transfer case. The bonus is that it comes with a barely used transmission. So while I am gone, he'll be installing that on my Explorer. Two birds with one stone. Thats pretty cool. He had to drive out of town to get the parts, but I'll make sure it is worth his while. It will be nice to feel more confident about driving around. :)


I don't feel very motivated right now.

Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow.....