two week countdown

I looked at the month's weather forecast today.

I know that's a silly thing to do since it probably isn't going to be at all accurate. But, I have decided that two weeks from today it's going to be consistently warm. So, I am going to make my work pants into cutoff shorts and my nice pants into work pants. I'm going to welcome summer into Portland with some sweet new duds. I'm pretty excited for this to happen. I do have a backup pair of non work pants just in case the weather runs amok again. It's always good to have a backup plan.

Other than that, my friend, Jamie, who has been considering visiting me for a bit has jumped over the last hurdle of deliberation and is going to come visit me in June shortly after I get back from family vacation. I'm pretty excited about both the family vacation and having a visitor (a cute one at that).

Tonight is cheap brews with friends. Hope you all are having a swell evening.

back on track

Saturday update! What?! What?! Getting back on track.

All right, here's the scoop. I've been watching this show called Firefly on Netflix and reading East of Eden in my free time. Both fortunately and unfortunately, I haven't had so very much of that free time recently (although I've still managed to blaze my way at a pretty healthy rate through both of those pass times). The reason why I've been so busy is 5 days of work a week and one at the restore as well as some much appreciated visiting time, some much needed runs, and the regular chores.

What I've been coming up against from working and running are some pretty unfun shin splints. I'm working on helping my legs out against those by wearing some insoles. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm training for a race in July and am not trying to get behind on that. Also, I don't think they're really from running as they got much worse in the past week when I was standing on the hard floors at work so much more than usual.

Outside of that I had been waiting on a 2nd job to start but I decided not to take it since I'm working so much at this job and have a guaranteed 4 day work week as well as two consecutive days off for my "weekend" which is not something I'm trying to pass up.

My calendar for the week to come is spotted with work. Monday: serving. Tuesday: work meeting. Wednesday: off. Thursday: serving. Friday: busing. Saturday: serving. Sunday:hosting. Notice- only one of those days is a hosting shift. It's going to be a good week for me!

Any other updates you should know about... Oh yes! Another friend is planning to visit me. It's not for a long time and it's not 100% for certain but I'm feeling pretty excited to have so many people coming to visit me (or at least wanting to) as of late. AND! it was a beautiful day today which made biking to two different grocery stores nothing but a pleasure.

Hope y'all's weekend is heading in the right direction.

Thursday's update... one day late

Hey all,

Sorry about the lateness of my updates this week. The problem is that once I'm thrown off schedule at all I'm a mess trying to get back on one.

This week's been great It started off with a bang working through the weekend and a passover/easter dinner on Sunday. Jon-Mike and Jackie got here on Saturday night so they got to come to dinner at my friend Natalie's house. Monday was more work and some running and my roomie Sean took the family to his climbing gym with him, Tuesday consisted of volunteering ( a good day for Jon-Mike and Jackie to explore the city on their own), and then some cheap brews and tasty delights at East Burn (the place we go for $2 tap beers on Tuesdays). Wednesday was my day off so extra sleep was had and cookies were made- and then promptly devoured and running was done. Thursday my second shift serving and Jon-Mike and Jackie's last day here. I got back from work and hung out with the family for a couple of hours before the two honeymooners continued on their adventure. Friday, today, I hosted but just for a little bit before heading back home to chill out for a bit before my evening run which I am looking forward to. Tomorrow and Sunday bring more hosting and then Monday starts me off with another serving shift. Work is plentiful and spring time is heading in our direction.

Hope you all are staying busy in an equally delightful way and are greatly enjoying the weather from where you read.

a whole lot

Last time I updated I felt like I had nothing to tell you and this time I feel like I have so much to share.

As you may know, last week I trained as a server. Monday was my first serving shift and Thursday is my second. The exciting thing that I learned at my first shift is that I'm going to serve the weekend after next. What that means from a monetary viewpoint is that I'll be earning at least twice as much that weekend than I usually do in just tips add that to my base of minimum wage and I'm going to be sitting pretty.

That's big news for me but still kind of boring. What's exciting right now is that Jon-Mike and Jackie are in town and staying at my house. That means I get a whole lot of hang out time with them (some of it we're sleeping but what can you do?) which is awesome. I'm so happy to have them here with me. I only wish that I could be a slightly better tour guide for the beautiful city of Portland. Since I've been working or volunteering every day that they've been here I have fallen a little short on that front.

Tonight we're going out to get some cheap brews and I'm looking forward to actually taking them out on the town.

Hope you all are having a great week so far too.

milkshake

I'm not eating an official milkshake but I am slurping up something delicious that's pretending to be a chocolate banana milkshake right now. Other than that I don't have a whole lot of excitement to report on.

I bussed today and made myself some tips. I host tomorrow and Sunday. Jon-Mike and Jackie are supposed to head into the area sometime in the next two days. and Sunday night there's going to be an Easter/Passover themed friend dinner. Monday is my first day serving alone. Tuesday I volunteer at the Restore, Wednesday I have off (hurray!), Thursday I have my 2nd serving shift and then Friday I start hosting again for the weekend. It's going to be a delightfully busy week. Hopefully I can step up to the newly busy schedule I now have. It's going to be different than I'm used to. I also have a hankering to start an art project or at least do something creative and I've got my regular running to keep up as well.

So, that's what's on my plate for the next few days. Hope you all are keeping delightfully busy and not getting too crazy.

End of training

Today was my last day of training as a server for Slappy Cakes. I even took the two last tables under my own name (got my own first bad tip too). I'm pretty excited because I'm working 5 days next week and two of them are serving shifts. That seems like it's going to be a pretty good deal for me. I'm certainly looking forward to it.

From training I went straight to the Restore and then did a bit of a bike ride for cross training. Tonight, I'm getting together with my friend Marika and, possibly, her boyfriend, Mathew. We're going to eat some dinner and then go out to get some cheap brews. It should be pretty good.

Things that I am thankful for as of late are having friends to hang out with, good weather, and plenty of work. It's been a pretty good week (I know it's only Tuesday but I have tomorrow and Thursday off this week so it's the end of my work week).

Hope you all are having a swell time from wherever you might be reading this.

Working hard at hardly working

Hey guys,

How's it going out there? I've been at work for the past three days which is still a new feeling for me. I also work Monday and Tuesday, although probably not very many hours. It's, actually pretty nice to work at a breakfast restaurant. You can work every day and still have every night free. Tomorrow, I don't even have to be there until 9:30 so I might even get my run in before work (but if not, no biggie. I'm just training to serve which isn't hard).

Last night, I went to a show that my friend's band played. It was pretty fun to get out. It was nice to meet some of my friend's friends too. I feel as though, I'm starting to settle in even more as a part of Portland. Knowing people to spend time with, and even meeting members of their friend group. It's a good thing for sure. The nice weather is really helping me feel at home here as well :).

I'm recruiting people to visit me this year. As you know, Dan came for a visit, which was awesome. I'm looking forward to Jon-Mike and Jackie coming down to visit me after they visit in Seattle for a little bit. I'm trying to get my friend Jamie to come visit me in June and I have a friend Monica who is planning on taking a trip up here from the bay area sometime this summer too. I am looking forward or hoping for each and every one of these visits to happen. It would be great to get all that visiting in.

I hope that all of you have some exciting plans in store for the spring/summer time frame.

Toodaloo!