Like crack, only more addictive

September 3, 2008

I think that after the elections–or maybe before, depending on the next 60 days or so–I’m going to need a detox.  The whole nomination of Sarah Palin is just too much for me to take.  It’s one…scandal…after…another.  It’s like crack.  I just can’t get enough of this nonsense.  And if this is how I feel, Mr. Cynical himself, imagine how the press must be feeling.  They have been ravenous about this, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re eating her alive, they’ve certainly eating the story alive.  It’s just too much!

Because I’m not clearly backing one candidate, this whole election is playing out completely for entertainment value for me.  I know who I’ll probably be voting for (in absence of a dark horse candidate from a third party) and who I’ll most likely not be voting for, but that’s about it.  My PoliSci degree has earned me the right to sit on the sidelines, point and laugh, and just generally have a good time while people yell and scream and foam at the mouth and try and convince me that physical proximity is the same as experience.  That’s my personal favorite for this year so far.  But the election ain’t over yet.

This past weekend was a lot of fun.  Mostly.  Friday night Hane and I went out and had drinks with some friends of ours at a place we’ve been curious to go to for awhile, and now that we’ve been, I don’t think we need to go back.  Wearing sandals in that bathroom was a bit risky.  Afterwards the two of us went to the Goodfoot Lounge, a place we went to a number of times last summer when they had a bitchin’ outside area (no more), and because we were a little smokey already we didn’t mind being inside with the smokers.  It was totally worth it, anyways–their food is great, they always have good beer on tap, and they make their drinks pretty much the strongest around.  A rum and Coke there is a splash of Coke with your rum.

Saturday was a bit more strenuous, and we took the MAX out to Beaverton with our bikes to help my sister move.  Five hours and broken bodies later (neither of us could move or lift anything anymore), we headed back.  Originally, we were going to try and ride all the way back, but we could barely make it back to the transit center, and instead of trying to ride MAX back and then riding bikes back to our apartment, e caught a bus that dropped us off six blocks from our apartment.  Much better.

Despite the fact that it wasn’t raining, snowing, and sleeting, in that order and repeating the way it was on my last moving day, Heathr’s move was much more difficult.  For starters, all her furniture is bulky and heavy, and she has so much stuff.  Heather has more stuff than Hanne and me combined, and it was a hell of a move.  Oh, and with my move we only went down stairs.  Boy was that nice.

After we got home, we were both too tired to do anything, so we went to a good Mexican restaurant nearby and rewarded ourselves with chips and salsa and a couple of pitchers of margaritas.  Expensive, but quite refreshing.  And the food was good, too.  Pretty much exactly what we wanted.  This particular restaurant usually has a waiting list to get in on a Friday or Saturday night, and I’ve waited upwards of 30 minutes in the past to get a table, but when we arrived a little after 5 PM, we were quite literally the only ones there.  I have never seen that place empty before.  People started showing up about 20 minutes after we got there, but it was still freaky.  Did the place get a bad review?  Had there been a health scare?  Kinda weird being the only people sitting in a place.

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already, but that’s a short week for you.  My Pints to Pasta 10k race is this weekend, but I’ve pretty much abandoned my “no beer during the week” plan in my final week.  I think I actually gained weight after implementing my plan, either because I was compensating somehow or because I was overdoing my booze consumption on the weekends.  Frankly, I’d rather drink a beer or two every night and not feel like I have to drink to “make up” for the week on the weekend.  I stopped doing that in college.  No, I don’t mind drinking a beer or two.  Maybe I should just call my experiment a failure and move on.

Besides, going off booze during the week means that I would have missed a night like last night: a bottle of Belgian Trippel Ale consumed while making a fresh, yard-grown tomato sauce over pasta with garlic bread and a bottle of wine on the side.  I don’t like missing opportunities like that, and I don’t mind admitting that I now have trouble cooking without a pint of beer sitting on a counter somewhere in the kitchen.  Hmmm.  Maybe I shouldn’t go to cooking school.

Posted in Beer, Family, Food, General, Hanne, Running