Unemployment, Day 72

Sitting in the Portland airport. The plane is here, so that is a good thing. It is going to be a full flight, so I am glad that I am going to be one of the first people to board the plane, I'm sitting in the back of the plane.... wheeeeeeee.

Next stop, Anchorage. My home away from home, sort of.

Lunch with Gramma Nori on Wednesday, and rafting later in the week, I'm told.

Unemployment, Day 71

Getting ready to go to Alaska. Ran some errands, gave the dog a bath, etc etc etc.

Packing, a bit, and finishing up some cleaning that I've wanted to get done.

Travis and I went to see Storm Large's stage play 'Crazy Enough'. This was the second time for me, I liked it just as much the second time around. I think he enjoyed it as well.

Burgers on the bbq for dinner.

Rachael Ray of Sunshine

Am I a bad person? I don't like Rachael Ray. I could (barely) tolerate her 30-minute meals show. I liked it better when her show showed her traveling around and surviving on 30 dollars a day. (Or whatever it was...)

Now she has a talk show, does commercials, and her 30-minute meals doesn't really appeal to me in any way. The recipes are full of things that don't even look edible, let alone appetizing.

For some reason, FoodNetwork has a fetish with her. I keep seeing shows of her going on vacation. Does she ever stay home and work?

It used to be that I could flip to the FN channel and find something that was entertaining, for some odd reason when I am bored, and flip to FN, she is on the screen. Ugh.

Am I the only one with disdain for her?

I don't wish that she fell down a flight of stairs onto one of her own personal lines of cutlery, but I wouldn't mind seeing less of her on TV.

Unemployment, Day 70

Went down to an office 'event' today. The department was officially saying goodbye to all of the payroll processors. These had been all of the employees that I had been supporting when I was working there.

Cake, punch, a slide-show, and people talking and crying. Ugh. I'm glad, in a way, that they laid me off long before everyone was starting to get their notices. I didn't have to watch as each of them went away, and didn't have to witness the heartache and strife. Lucky me. I guess.

I left after about an hour, it was about all I could take.

Then Travis and I took Beau to the vet for a check up.

Nachos for dinner.

Another netflix movie.

My TSA approved laptop bag arrived, I'll be interested to see if the Portland Airport will allow me to use it as intended.

Unemployment, Day 69

Not too much to report for today. Went to the post office, took the dog out in the yard. Quiet evening at home watching TV. I'm boring, I know. :)

Unemployment, Day 68

Not much today. Ran some errands and hung around the house.

Travis and I watched a movie after dinner, and then flipped through some tv.

The weather was ok, a tad warm, but not intolerable.

Heading back to Alaska on Tuesday for a few weeks.

Unemployment, Day 67

Got up and showered, and Travis and I headed down to the 'continental' breakfast that the casino lodge offered us. It was tolerable. We opted to not eat that much, and instead we planned to hit Mo's at lunch time.

We spent another hour gambling, and then cashed out all of our vouchers.

Headed to Depoe Bay to wander along the rock wall, and look at the spouting horns. The tide wasn't being very helpful, so Travis wasn't able to see the full effect. It was still nice though, very quite, not many people out, and the temperature was just right. No rain even!

We headed back up to Lincoln City and hit up the outlet malls. We wandered around, and I even bought something!

Mo's for lunch, where I ate too much. The view is always nice though at the Mo's in Lincoln City.

On the way home, we re-traced our route that brought us to the casino, and stopped at the Briggatine Monastery in Amity. They make fudge to fund their pursuits. Now I have fudge and truffles. Mmmmmmmmm.

Unemployment, Day 66

I ran some errands today and got ready to leave town for a few days. I reserved a suite at Spirit Mountain Casino for Travis and I. He doesn't have any classes on Tuesdays, so I figured we should spend a day and have some fun, while I don't have the complication of having a job.

As soon as he got home from school, we hit the road.

We made it to the Casino around 2:45 PM on Monday afternoon. We checked in to the membership club, and then wandered over to the lodge and got all checked in.

Nice suite. Two televisions, and two bathrooms. I think the suite was larger than one of the houses I lived in when I first moved to Portland.

We spent some time gambling, only at the video slot machines though. Travis was interested in the roulette table, but we stuck with the video machines.

I have a specific system, since I only gamble for entertainment. I managed to play a decent video game, and when it was all said and done I wound up having $104 that I cashed out with. Not a bad haul for having spent 20 hours at the casino.

Mind you, we didn't spend all that time gambling. It was nice to have a room where we could wander off to and have some down / quiet time.

The buffet has been much changed and improved from last time. Travis and I ate too much, of course, and I went back for a second set of desserts.

Unemployment, Day 61 - 65

Yes, it is a week re-cap. I was lazy this week. The damned heat didn't help!

Monday I made a different kind of soup in the crock pot. Not as good as my German lentil soup. I'm going back to my Gustav's recipe. It was much better.

Tuesday Travis and I went to Hopworks for lunch, and then ran around town some, went in to Everyday Music. I didn't spent all that much money. I'm getting better about shopping there, to be sure. I did get a new Billy Bragg two CD set.

Wednesday Beau got a bath. He's gone back to 'cutting' himself. He has again chewed open a sore on his leg. I caught it early this time. I'm hoping it'll be gone and healed up by the time I leave again for Alaska.

Thursday there was a huge thunderstorm. (Huge for Portland.) No major damage here, but the wind was nice, and the rain cooled off the hot week, until it spawned some humidity. Ick.

Friday I helped Travis gather a ton of supplies for an even his school was hosting. He and I had to run out to a church near his college's main campus to drop them off. We came home and had pizza for dinner. We watched another Netflix DVD.

We are also becoming quite decent fans of 30Rock.