Mountain Friendly

6/5/2010 – 8:25 pm

Today was a great day in Oregon to take the doors off the Family Jeep and tool around a bit. We ended up driving up into the area around Mt Hood and hiking in the woods.

I recommend it to everyone, there's nothing quite like it.

By Paul | Posted in waiting | Comments (0)

Faith in Humans

6/4/2010 – 6:23 pm

JarodToday we couldn't decide what to eat for lunch so we drove around aimlessly in the Family Jeep for a while until Tim suggested Claim Jumpers. That seemed OK, since I was starving at 2:30pm with no lunch yet. So we redirected our four wheels toward Crackamas Town Center.

Along the way, my iPhone had rung (ringed? rang?) so I had taken it out of my pocket and handed it to Tim, as is our custom when the driver's phone rings. You see, it's illegal to talk on the phone while you're driving in Oregon, so we always hand it off to the passenger. ANYWAY, long story short, I left my phone in the Jeep when we got to the restaurant.

While Tim was being seated, I headed back to the car to retrieve the iPhone when I was approached by a street urchin. I'm really good at ignoring people walking towards me in public places – I've been a city dweller for far too long. But this guy walked right up to me and started talking:

Him: "Don't get mad at me, the last guy I talked to almost hit me."

Me: "No worries, mate. What up?"

Him: "I'm really hungry and I was wondering-"

I cut him off right there. I have a soft spot for hungry people so I interrupted without letting him finish his well rehearsed speech.

Me: "You want to join us for lunch, we're just sitting down in that restaurant right there."

His face lit up and it was like Christmas morning. He seemed genuinely excited about the offer of a free meal.

Like I said, I've always had a soft spot for people who're hungry. This guy seemed down on his luck and hadn't actually asked for money. I almost never give them money, but I will always buy them food if I can afford it.

Him: "Can I bring my buddy? He's over at the Max Station…"

Me: "Sure. Go get him and meet us inside. I'll tell the restaurant that you are coming. Just ask for Paul when you get back."

He ran off in the direction of the Max Station to get his friend. I went back inside Claim Jumpers to tell Tim we needed a larger table.

Fortunately Tim had already been seated at a large enough table, so I sat down and told him we were expecting company.

The guy who had talked to me in the parking lot looked to be about 25, was clean-cut and didn't smell like cigarettes or like he hadn't bathed in a while. He seemed like your average guy at the mall, only he was down on his luck and hungry.

We waited about 40 minutes before we ordered our lunch (we did have an appetizer of delicious cheese sticks so I wouldn't die in the process). Finally we gave up waiting and ordered and ate our meal. The two of them never walked in the front door, I could see it from where I was sitting.

The whole thing kind of made me sad. I wonder why he didn't come back. I wondered if his friend didn't want to come, or if they got food somewhere else first, or if he was just looking for a handout and when I didn't offer cash he bailed, or what.

I hope it was that they got food and went on their way.

By Paul | Posted in waiting | Comments (0)

Then there was New Mexico

6/3/2010 – 4:05 pm

Bandalier National MonumentThis photo is from sometime before I was in the third grade. Who knows exactly when. I'm gonna guess 1971 or maybe 1972. I think it's at Bandalier National Monument in Northern New Mexico.

Bandalier ranks right up there with Mesa Verde as one of my favorite ruin sites to visit. I mean think about it. What's the name of this website again?

You can see, even back then I was calm and collected. I was the cool little boy everyone else wanted to be. And yes, I seem to have been into plaid at an early age.

This is a photo of me and my big brother.

I don't remember anything about this particular trip, but I do remember lots of composite things about Bandalier from several trips there:

I've backpacked in the backcountry there. I've had the best tasting Dr. Pepper of my life there. I've seen odd petroglyphs that seem to indicate both Christianity and Space Men visited there before Columbus "discovered" America. Heck, My boy scout troop even did a scout project there once, scraping graffiti off of the cliff sides.

On one of our backpacking trips we were accosted on day one by a bunch of 6 year olds on a field trip that we collectively referred to as "the YMCA kids." For years whenever we'd do impossible things (like climbing peaks in Glacier Park) someone would inevitably say "look, it's the YMCA kids…"

Hiking the Alamo Canyon was always a challenge. Even a simple walk a couple of miles to the Rio Grande could turn into a life-threatening adventure (it is in the New Mexico high desert, after all).

All in all, its a fascinating place. Maybe I should drag Tim down there to look it over some time.

By Paul | Posted in going, knowing, laughing | Comments (0)

Spotty European Memories

6/2/2010 – 5:03 pm

Me and Karen with DadWhen I was in the fourth grade, my dad and step-mom decided to take the whole family to Europe. It was my first time there. As soon as we got out of school that year (maybe even a day early as I remember it), we sauntered off to Houston's Intercontinental Airport to fly to the UK.

From there we toured seven countries in twenty-one days. Here are the first things that come to mind when I think of that trip:

1.Under Dover Castle there are tunnels. Scary white tunnels where my step-brother scared the bejesus out of me by jumping out at the appropriate time.

2.They don't serve French Fries on the Eiffel Tower (at least they didn't that day) and for some reason the waitrons thought it was appropriate to bring fried green beans to a fourth grader who was expecting fried potatoes.

3.Lucern has a cool covered bridge and a sweet cogwheel train that went all the way up the side of a mountain that starts with the letter P.

4.All of Venice is not canals and museums. And it was the first haircut I ever got that was 100% done with scissors.

5.When you're racing your brother down 5 floors of a building and you're in the elevator, he's gonna push the call button on each floor to make sure he can prove the stairs are faster.

6.When you are on a bus tour with an agency (American Express in this case), pay attention to where the bus driver eats.

I also remember the family telling stories about that trip, but those are the things that stand out for me. Remember, (1) I was just a fourth grader, (2) The 3 week trip started 36 years ago this week and (3) chemotherapy – the old standby – destroys memory cells.

Was it worth it?

For the financial part of it, you'd have to ask the folks that paid for it. But even though I don't remember a lot of the details, I do know that much of what I believe today comes from my family's fearless treks into the 'out yonder.'

Some truths that got etched into my brain from that trip are simple things, like how a three week trip lasts for twenty-one days. Others were not so simple, like how people (in this case, the company lead tour guide) don't always speak the truth (we found out somewhere along the way that the company got kickbacks from the places we visited – hence my memory of eating where the bus driver eats instead of where the tour guide eats). I learned that subways don't run 24 hours a day in big cities (London big enough for you?) and that my dad would get really worried when my brother and step brother didn't come back to the hotel until after 1AM (both of them under the age of 16, they had decided to ride the tube all the way around London – see my last note about the tube not running 24 hours a day).

So I say, it's a good thing. Take your kids with you when you go places. Even if they don't remember all the Fodor and Rick Steve's info, they'll get a lot from it and you'll all be better people.

By Paul | Posted in going, knowing, laughing | Comments (1)

Hello, June!

6/1/2010 – 8:53 pm

Happy Hello, June!Summer is almost upon us. June has arrived. With it comes all the rain that we always get. Hopefully it'll clear up soon and we'll have decent weather. I think that usually starts right after the Rose Parade.

June is a hectic month. There are several things happening in the next few weeks. I'm going to try to remember to blog about it every day. Just like two years ago. We'll see if I actually make it.

I don't know if there will be anything exciting like the bigfoot-in-a-freezer scam that turned out just to be a monkey suit frozen in a block of ice, or if there will be anything so wonderfully misspelled as the number one search term that's still bringing people to this site. Who can say what the future holds?

I do think it's a great time to try to keep up.

By Paul | Posted in knowing | Comments (0)

My May 2010 Facebook Links

5/31/2010 – 11:59 pm

These are the links that I posted on my Facebook Account during the month of May 2010.

Link Disclaimer: most of the links in this post go to external sites beyond the control of cliffdweller. Please understand that some of them may not yield the exact results over time that the original description on this page outlines.

By Paul | Posted in waiting | Comments (0)

Leave a message, I'm asleep

5/26/2010 – 7:58 am

sleepgraph Leave a message, Im asleepRecently a friend turned me on to an app called "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock (opens iTunes)." It runs on your iPhone while you're asleep and produces the data visualized in this graphic.

You simply set it on the bed next to your head you before you start sawing Zs. It uses the motion sensor to see how much you toss and turn during the night, and somehow interpolates all of that data into when you're deep sleeping and when you're not.

As an added benefit, and since no one really wants to have all that cellular antennae stuff beaming everywhere in your brain while you sleep, the developers suggest you put the phone in airplane mode.

I'm loving that! No more 6AM text messages from my nephew on the east coast! No more drunk calls from Japan! Sweet!

So not only do I get to sleep all night now, but I get to start tracking my actual sleep patterns. I'll post more data after I've used it for a while…

By Paul | Posted in waiting | Comments (1)

Offensive Words in Music

5/19/2010 – 9:56 am

CursingInMusic Offensive Words in MusicRecently, while listening to Ben and Dave's Sixpack, I was tipped to a new artist that used a lot of video game-like sounds in his music. Never one to shy away from 8-bit samples, or speak and spell-as-a-musical-instrument (see my erasure or depeche mode collection for proof), I hopped right on it. And it was a free download to boot! sweet!

I am very happy with the sounds on the new album by Simon Curtis, but I can't play it in public.

You see, it has "the F word" predominantly featured several times in not one, not two, but three songs. Maybe more. I stopped counting and just put it all in the "don't play this in public" file. Hence I'm listening to it a lot less than I would normally.

So you say, so what? That's his artist expression to use whatever language he likes in his music. I would agree with you. It is his prerogative. And as soon as the rest of the English speaking world catches up with his progressiveness, then I'm sure all will be o.k.

Personally, I don't get offended by words. The F word doesn't bug me in the least. Neither do a whole list of other words that are used by everyone all over the place.

What is offensive to one person may not be so to another. I remember when I was in high school, ABBA released a song called On and On and On and I was scandalized. My father was letting us play a song that said "sure as hell" in it. Hell, he was playing it too. :)

That same year on a Scout Trip, I was made and example of and punished by the scoutmaster for saying "hell was in the hymn we sang this morning in church".

In Middle School, I was scandalized by the Charlie Daniels Band for saying "son of a bitch". I was more pissed off that I lost a bet about it than the fact that they said it. You see, in conservative Dallas, they were protecting us from ourselves by playing a different version on the radio that actually said "son of a gun".

In my present life, I find guns much more offensive than bitches.

Blondie had a song that referred to "a pain in the ass". That was 9th grade. We would never in a million years have ever noticed except that the local radio station in San Angelo TX was protecting us by actually blipping the word "ass" out of the song. So Blondie sang "Once I had a love and it was a gas, soon turned out to be a pain in the [BEEEEEEEP]". not disruptive at all.

When I Moved to San Francisco, they were playing a certain song by Nine Inch Nails in heavy rotation. They didn't bleep the F word completely, but they bleeped most of it so there was no question about what was being said. You can download almost any song by NIN to hear the F word.

When I moved to Portland, a local family in my apartment complex got mad at me for using the word "stupid", because all four of their kids had been taught that it was a curse word.

I guess my point is this: who cares? Why is the F word offensive? Why is "stupid" offensive?

I can't say. But I do know that because the F word is so prevalent in the new album, I couldn't play it in the car on the way to the beach with the kids from the church over the weekend – even though the music is bouncy and fun. Oddly, the kid's are listening to music with the exact same language peppered all through it (and don't even ask me what I caught one of the googling on an iPod touch) – and I do mean ALL through it. But it's more of the NIN variety with screaming and anger and not the bouncy pop-goodness that I couldn't play for them.

By Paul | Posted in music, waiting | Comments (0)

Look at me, I'm famous!

5/13/2010 – 3:24 pm

A few weeks ago, a friend on one of youth at church contacted me. She had a school project where she needed to interview an adult who travels a bit. Now I'm not going to argue whether I deserve adult status or not, but no one would disagree that I do like to travel.

Here is her write up from the interview:

I met Paul (interviewee) through my friend. He was her youth leader for church. She recommended me to interview him since Paul and I shared the same passion. My plan in the beginning was to go to a travel agent and interview them. Then I realized that wouldn’t do me any good. I needed somebody who had experience and enjoys traveling. So I got the email address from my friend and I emailed him. I introduced myself and told him about the passion project. After a couple of exchanges we found a time to meet up. We met at the Starbucks inside Safeway on 39th/SE Powell on 4-15-2010. Of course I forgot to give Paul my phone number. I had to call up my friend and ask her what he looked like and for his number. But it all worked out in the end.

The interview went pretty well, I had a lot of fun listening to him talk about all of his trips. I had come up with twenty-one questions to ask him regarding his travels. We talked for about an hour and in the end I was like wow and jealous. Paul and his husband travel for fun and he traveled for his whole life. In the beginning I actually thought he traveled for church. I know some people travel with their church and go on a mission trip. Obviously I didn’t know but that was what I thought. Paul is really spirited and just has a lot of time on his hands. He doesn’t like having a schedule. He is heading to London soon and they (him and his husband) will rent a car and just drive around. In other words, he just goes with the flow. I hope sometime in my life I will be able to travel around the world. I think the key thing is to work really hard and to not have any kids. Then I would have a lot of money.

After interviewing him, I realized why I want to travel so badly. I want to see the world and see all the different cultures. I think that would be more memorable then sitting in class learning about economics. (If that made any sense) During the interview he mentioned about being in Berlin and how their car almost got craned away (They use cranes to tow away cars). Now that is something worth remembering. I don’t know if this interview was so much about me learning new things. It just led me to think studying abroad or whatever you learn so much more. Actually being there would actually stick to your mind, as opposed to reading a textbook. Not everything can fit into a textbook especially every little detail and area. I don’t know if I am making any sense but it is something that is hard to explain.

This was a great subject for my passion interview. I wouldn’t interview anybody else. I grew up traveling and I loved it, now after interviewing Paul it makes me want to travel more. Later on in life if I travel to places like Berlin and I see a crane, I might think of Paul and his memories with it.

She interviewed me back in April, before that volcano in Iceland redirected our latest trip to the East Coast.

By Paul | Posted in going | Comments (0)

Simon (Google?) says

5/12/2010 – 7:13 am

SimonVChrome Simon (Google?) saysIs it just me, or does the Google Chrome logo look like a Simon from the 1970s?

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The imagination wanders a bit with the similarities. Imagine everyone just doing what Simon says.

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What if Google turned from "Do no harm" to "Do as we say…"? Wouldn't that be a bit scary? I mean they're already processing almost everyone's emails. And they certainly know what each of us likes to look at on the web.

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Imagine if Google just started telling us what it wanted to tell us in order to get us to do what it wanted us to do. We all rely on it for tons of stuff, some of us without even realizing it.

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When teaching people how to make websites in the classroom, I was amazed that I could tell people something like "go to http://www.cliffdweller.com" and they would type exactly that into the Google search bar and then click on the resulting search page, adding an extra step to the simple process all the while alerting Google to their presence. Imagine so many people giving so much control of their web-life to Google.

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Google Analytics is on most of the websites you go to. It enables web people to track who's coming to their site (this site included). You are giving information to Google without even realizing it.

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How far are we willing to go when it comes to big faceless corporations knowing so many details about our lives? Google your name. Google your name and address. Google your name and place of employment. See what's out there.

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Paranoid? Decide for yourself.

By Paul | Posted in waiting | Comments (0)