The Jack Noodle Journal

Yeah, I was going to get up earlier before heading to the office to write an entry. That didn’t work out like I had planned. The sleep was just too good this morning.

I’ve got to get a schedule going. Some sort of routine that allows more creativity or creation or something. The days just go by too quick. I need to figure out a way to be more productive when I get home from work. If I am indeed going to go back for more schooling, I’m going to have to stuff more stuff in. How did I fit school in before? Oh, that’s right. I was a basket case.

The lovely and artful Alicia, my good buddy, has entered the blogosphere this week. She has been typing away feverishly here. She will be writing mostly about art and stuff she thinks is cool and inspiring. For now she’ll probably steer away from such Noodle topics as “lawn mowing” and “coffee drinking”. Hopefully she’ll keep up with the posts when Seth and her move to Pittsburgh so we can keep track of their adventures. She has thrown down the gauntlet and wants to have a write off. Busting my chops on the sparseness of the Noodle Journal as of late.

Is that what one does? Throw down the gauntlet? What does that mean? I sure have been saying it a lot.

I’ll write more later. I have a list going here next to my work computer on topics I want to discuss.

Hey there! How has it been going? It has been going pretty swell here. The weather has been absolutely magnificent and it has been hard to sit in front of a computer to type. I had to get up at this early hour to type. We just finished with a whole weekend of sunshine. Wait, is it Tuesday? We have been out in the sun soaking up the rays.

It was hard being at work yesterday in the darkness, knowing that it was a bright day out.

What has been going on? Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee are in town this week visiting. It has been nice hanging out with them again. We went and had a nice Cuban dinner at Pambiche last night. It was quite tasty. I had some sort of pork sandwich whose name I have forgotten.

During the last weekend we had some fun. On Saturday we went on a long walk with the dogs down the Springwater Corridor. It was a gorgeous walk. We were going to walk to Sellwood but Phillip got overheated so had to cut the walk short and stop at Oaks Bottom where Seth and Alicia were waiting to pick Phillip and Abby up in the car.

On Sunday I was all about the yard work. It looks pretty good out there right now. I got the lawn back in shape. There are some spots on the side of the house that still has grown out grass that is too long for the mower. In the front where the little hill and rock garden are is hard to get with the mower also. I’m going to have to figure out how to cut that stuff back. Maybe I should buy a weed eater. Hmmm. Yeah, a weed eater.

It looks like it may be a tad bit cooler today than yesterday. It’s an overcast morning right now.

I’ve got to jump in the shower and get my day going.

I made a mix disc for the lovely, beautiful Allison.

Here’s the track list song / artist so you can make the same disc at home and enjoy the tunes that we are listening to in the Noodle Compound.

1.The Sinner In Me / Depeche Mode
2. Gold Digger / Kanye West
3. Soft Power / Ladytron
4. Sister / She Wants Revenge
5. Everybody’s Changing / Keane
6. Staring At The Sun / TV On The Radio
7. King Volcano / Bauhaus
8. Only / Nine Inch Nails
9. Fix You / Coldplay
10. The W.A.N.D. / The Flaming Lips
11. Maybe You Can Owe Me / Architecture in Helsinki
12. The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack / Liars
13. Major Label Debut / Broken Social Scene
14. Dayvan Cowboy / Boards of Canada
15. Number 1 / Goldfrapp
16. Alone, Jealous and Stoned / Secret Machines
17. Tear You Apart / She Wants Revenge

I got into the office earlier today so I thought I would drop a post from here before I started my long day of photo manipulation. I left 10 minutes earlier today and got here 25 minutes before my usual time. I was trying to break the pattern of my routine this morning. I think that it is too easy to get stuck in the same pattern in today’s World. One could get their morning commute down to an exact replica of the morning before and the morning before that. I was writing about this a month or two ago. I had noticed that the same lady walked her dog past a certain point at the exact time everyday. Last week I started standing at a different MAX station just to shake things up a bit. It’s funny because my new MAX station is actually closer to where I get off the bus downtown. I’m sure I’m going to start noticing the new patterns soon and will have to look for a new place to wait for the train.

With all this silly fear about identity thieves taking all of your valuable information, don’t you think it might be smart to keep everything random in your life so that the thieves won’t be able to get a hold? Staying out of repeatable patterns makes it more difficult to be traced. I don’t know much about odds or statistics, but aren’t your odds of being in an accident at a certain spot greater if you are at that spot at the same time every morning? I don’t know. I think there’s something to that, but I’m starting to sound nutty this morning. Maybe I’ll do some more research on randomness when I get home this evening. I think it’s important to think about on occasion, being that it is so easy to not think about it and fall into your same patterns.

I’m running out of time. I’ve got to start working.

Holy crap people, the final season of Six Feet Under is kicking our butts. It is so good. I think we only have 3 or 4 episodes left. Man, it is getting so dark and dismal. How is it all going to work out in only 3 more episodes?

Happy Easter kids! How goes it?
The sun is trying so desperately to poke it’s head out this morning. Oh wow, I just got a blast from it coming through the window. Nice. We just got back from taking the dogs for a walk and getting coffee. We started the dog walk a bit earlier than usual and it was nice, quiet and peaceful. Everybody was still sleeping their Saturday off.

Yesterday was rainy. We got out in it and did our yard work anyway. Boy oh boy, we did a number on the backyard. Thanks to Martin and Lianne for all the help. We got cold, wet and muddy. We pretty much chopped the giant laurel bush in the back in half. We had to clean up the ivy and find the back of our property line to prepare for the fence going in. We gained three more feet of yard by the time we were finished. We filled up Martin’s truck three times and took our yard debris to the recycling center. We dumped a total of over one thousand pounds of yard debris. It looks good back there. Actually it doesn’t look good, it looks like a hurricane hit, but it is cut back and ready for the fence. We are so stupid though. We forgot to take before and after photos! That bums me out. That would have been a perfect before and after opportunity. I need to start to take more pictures.

I’ve got achy muscles from yesterday’s work.

What’s going on for Easter? Not much here. We were going to go out to my dad’s for lunch but we’ve decided not to.
I think I may take an Easter nap.

Hey there. Welcome to another installment of the Noodle Weekly Reader.
Happy tax day.
Yeah hoo!

More importantly, it is my lovely puppy boy’s birthday. Phillip C. Noodle is four years old today. Gosh, it just seems like yesterday when we were bringing that little guy home. Now he’s all grown up. No, what stage would he be at in dog years? Is he like 18 or something? What the heck is up with dog years anyway? Who made that up?

Speaking of Phillip, the little guy has to go out to the potty. Hold on one second won’t you? I’ll be right back, I swear.

It’s rainy and cold out right now. We are supposed to get out there, clean up the yard and trim back the brush today, but I don’t know. I don’t want to go out and work in the rain. K says we have to though to make room for the impending fence. Martin and Lianne are coming over with the truck. Nice K, invite your friends over to help and make them work in the rain.

Where did we leave off after last post? What happened to that week that just flew by?

Well, yes. I did get a haircut. It’s nicely shaved back again. No more George Washington.

We got our taxes squared away by the pros. Turns out that I was worried for no reason. Some how the pros worked their magic and the money we owed was canceled out by the money we are getting back. We everything is said and done we just have to pay 13 bucks. Oh yeah and we do have to pay the tax preparers bill. At least we aren’t thousands of dollars in the hole like I was fearing we would be.

I wonder if I will ever relax and stop stressing out over stuff? Probably not.

A couple of things I am looking forward to popped up this week.

I was trying to view another movie trailer the other day when I found this. What the heck! Is it really true? Finally, the urban legend of a Simpsons movie is going to happen? Oh man, I’m a little nervous about this one. I don’t want it to suck. Long ago they said they weren’t going to make a Simpsons movie until they got the script right. Do you think they did? Getting the Simpsons to stretch into 90 minutes would be a hard task. I love the Simpsons to death but watching three episodes in a row does get tiring. They work best in 30 minute bursts I think. Also, does this mean the end of the series? I’ve heard before that a motion picture would be the closer. Man, a World without new Simpsons episodes. I hope the movie is mind blowing and the funniest thing that I have ever seen in my whole life. I have quite a while until July 27th, 2007 to talk about this. It will be like waiting for Star Wars Episode I before we all knew it was going to suck.

I am on a zero-purchase music fast for the rest of the month but almost broke my fast this week investigating the new Underworld project. Underworld is like the best electronic band of all time. I love their music. They are doing something pretty cool this time around with their new project. They are making it only available through their website. Now days that isn’t that ground breaking but I think that the thing that’s cool about the Riverrun project is that it is an on going episodic record release. I think it’s also cool that you download 25 minute chunks instead of a song at a time. Oh yeah, did I also mention that it’s Underworld. Bands that already have a rabid following will probably be more successful with this download only model. It is probably great for the band to skip all of the middle people and go directly to the fan. I’m going to get the first 2 installments as soon as my music purchasing fast is over.

Alright, I’ve got to get some coffee and go work outside in the rain.

Good morning again folks. How’s your Sunday morning? So far so good here. I’m kind of chilly right now though. Hold on while I go get a sweatshirt.

It’s not raining right now. I think it is bound to sometime today though. We have little spurts of sunlight mixed with the gray.

We’ve had a pretty good weekend so far.
Yesterday we took my check and deposited it at the bank. Then we went and dropped our tax documents off at the tax place. After that we drove way out to Gresham and put a down payment on the fence we are going to have installed in the back.

Yep we are getting a fence. Woo Hoo! We are so excited. The dogs have needed a fenced in backyard for so long now. I know, we should be building our own fence. Before I go off on some reasons for having professionals build our fence, let me just start by saying that the true reason we aren’t building the fence ourselves is because we are lazy. I don’t want to build a fence. The reason that I have been giving before finally admitting the true reason is that I don’t want to put in a half-assed fence when I don’t know what I am doing and could possibly screw up the whole outside look of our house.
“Oh, but putting up a fence is a breeze,” You say.
Yeah, we could probably figure it out and do an alright job. I have seen so many shitty looking fences though.
No, we’re getting the pros to do it. I would rather stay inside and look at the internet than build anything out in the great outdoors.
I’ll be big on yard work this year.

The fence should be going in around May sometime.

OH taxes! Damn those taxes. I have really been stressing out over the taxes this year. I kind of feel like I’m going to the dentist to get some teeth pulled. I’m not sure how much money we owe, but I do know we owe something this year. I haven’t paid any taxes on last year’s freelance money yet. Argh. Yes, we are getting our taxes done by the pros this year.
I know, we should probably be doing our own taxes.
“Oh, but doing your own taxes is a breeze,” You say.
Yeah, we could probably figure it out and do an alright job. Truth be told though, we are lazy.

They have called already and said we are missing some tax documents. ARGH!

Yesterday I bought the new Flaming Lips CD, “At War With the Mystics”. It is really good. There’s some sweet psychedelic rocking on that beast. I’m going to have to listen to it on headphones at work though, to give it the thorough examination. I can see this CD being the album of the summer. It has that lazy day at the beach, or camping by the river feel to it.

That’s it for music purchasing for the rest of the month for this guy. I have been picking up a lot of tunes lately. Make sure and remind me that there is no music buying for the rest of April.

We saw an excellent movie last night that came through our Netflix queue. It’s a rock and roll documentary called “New York Doll”. If you are in the mood to see a good rock and roll documentary then rent it. I don’t want to say too much about it because I think not knowing much about the subject matter of this movie before seeing it adds to the charm. You should check it out though. Quite enjoyable.

Well, on my weekend queue I still have a haircut, some laundry and I have to find those missing tax documents.

Looks like we’ve got rain again here this morning folks. I’m in the front room staring out the windows right now. There is something quite a bit better about spring rain than winter rain. There is something more hopeful about spring rain. I guess it’s probably warmer when we get spring rain and perhaps it’s more hopeful because you think that it’s possible there could be a sunny day tomorrow. With winter rain everything is dead and gray. During spring rain the pretty blossoms are getting wet and everything is green and full of life.

Speaking of being full of life, I’ve had a stomach thing over the past few days. I’ve been feeling woozy and pukey. At first I thought it might have been the guacamole bacon burger I had at the Bonfire on Thursday night but then the sick feeling didn’t seem to pass when the burger did. Maybe I have some sort of stomach virus. On Friday at work I tried to stay away from too much acidic coffee and stuck to crackers and sprite all day. That’s the good thing about my line of work, you can sit there all day with a stomach thing and still get stuff done. I stayed in Friday night, went to bed early and think that I am starting to feel better now. Still a tad woozy.

This week went by pretty fast didn’t it? Not too much went down around these parts. I know. I need to start writing more frequently in these pages. I had a number of good topics to write about this week but didn’t get any of them down. Although a bit woozy, I’m feeling good and could probably bust a few of the topics out now. I don’t know though, the topics were more “of the moment” and wouldn’t seem right going in on a Saturday. One of the things I have been trying to stop doing here are entries writing about writing in the journal. woops. I get annoyed sometimes when I run into that out in the media world. Talking about talking. Podcasts about Podcasts. Come on people (myself included) let’s get some good content!

I’m being a bit of a baby there. I have been enjoying some really good content this last week. At work I have been pretty much listening to KCRW over the internet all day. The NPR news bits have been horrible, uninteresting, and repetitive (not NPR’s fault, news of the World has just been lame), but the shows between the news bits really kicked ass this week. Elvis Mitchell had an interview with David Mamet on the Treatment, and Michael Silverblatt had a conversation with Kurt Vonnegut on Bookworm that made me teary eyed. I get so much inspiration and enjoyment from hearing the voices of artists like Mamet and Vonnegut talk about their work.

Gosh there were a couple of other good shows I listened to this week. Hmmm. Let’s try and remember…

While not at work, I have been reading and enjoying cultural anthropologist, Grant McCracken’s blog: “This Blog Sits at the“. He writes about things that have been interesting to me over the last few months like advertising, marketing and branding. I keep trying to come up with intelligent enough comments to leave on a few of the posts that have sparked some thoughts but often chicken out. It’s like trying to plan the exact right second to run in and jump rope with the kids on the playground.

I’ve got to get my woozy self up and get this weekend started!
First up is a shower and a shave.
I must get a hair cut this weekend. My hair is the longest it has been in three years and it’s not pretty. I’ve got a kind of weird George Washington thing going on. The days of long golden locks are over for this guy. It’s shaved to the scalp, dirty blond, grey, light brown for the rest of my days.

Laundry and chores.

Oh yes, and I must hit the bank and deposit a check before it closes this afternoon.

Good morning.

Last night I raced home from work (as much as racing is possible on public transit), put on my nasty yard shoes and mowed the lawn for the first time this year. The weather was just so beautiful during the afternoon and early evening that I knew I had to jump at the chance. The grass was really tall. It was a tough mow. I had to raise the mower wheel notches up to the highest position so that the mower wouldn’t choke on the chopped grass. Even with the wheels raised it choked a few times. I’m not sure how long it took to mow. Maybe an hour? The mow is finished for now. This was just an initial hit. It looks okay. The mission this time around was to get the grass manageable. On Saturday or so, I’m going to mow it again and get it down to government issue.

I think I am going to enjoy the yard work this season. It really is therapeutic. My back is a little sore this morning though. Nothing a nice, warm shower and a day sitting in an office chair in front of a computer won’t fix.

I really like how getting a few chores out the way like mowing the lawn, trimming the tree, washing the dishes, putting a few bills in the mail, makes you feel good. Getting stuff squared away is good. I should remember that next time I bitch about chores. Maybe it’s the nice weather and the promise of more days of nice weather, but I am in a great mood this morning.

This time change thing has thrown me for a loop. I’m so confused. What time is it? Am I tired or not? Should I be getting ready for bed or have dinner? Argh.

The weekend is coming to a close. It was a pretty good weekend. We were pretty busy once again. Next weekend I’m going to try to not do anything. I’ll wanted to do this last weekend was read, write, do some research on the internet and maybe watch a couple of movies. I haven’t done any of that yet this weekend and it’s already Sunday night. Well, actually I did do a little bit of reading this morning with K at the coffee shop, but not as much as I would have liked. This going out every night thing is cutting into my hermit, bookworm, monk, devotional time.

Thursday after work we went out to Holocene for happy hour. It was pretty alright. Then we went to the Aalto Lounge for more hours of happy. At the Aalto my ears heard a crazy thing coming through the speakers I heard an interesting mix of the Bauhaus song Bela Lugosi’s Dead. I asked the DJ behind the bar as I was leaving, what song he had mixed with Bela Lugosi’s Dead. He then informed me that it wasn’t a mix but a version of the Curtis Mayfield song “Kung Fu” by the Dirtbombs. This instantly threw my World into turmoil.

“Are you telling me that Bela Lugosi’s Dead has always had a Curtis Mayfield sample in it? How come I have never heard that before?”

I think the DJ was accommodating my 3 Manhattaned logic and said, “I’m not sure why you haven’t heard that it was a sample. I don’t know what kind of company you keep”. Or something smart like that.

My whole belief system shaken to it’s core, I went home that night and received salvation again from the internet. The Dirtbombs does do a version of Kung Fu by Curtis Mayfield. They magically mix in music from the Bauhaus song Bela Lugosi’s dead. There wasn’t any Mayfield, Bauhaus, sampling mystery. Luckily I had enough sense left to not buy it from iTunes.

On Friday at work I was very sleepy. Work couldn’t have ended fast enough.

Friday night we went and saw the lovely boys in We’re From Japan play at the Know. The Know is a kind of interesting mid-nineteen nineties place. The acoustics weren’t so hot though and my ears were killing me at the end of the evening. A band called Te’ who really was from Japan played also. They were really cool and full of energy. They rocked it hardcore. I appreciate energy and being full of it more and more these days. I was going to buy their CD but didn’t. they were really good.

On Saturday we took the dogs for a walk. It was a nice spring day.

In the evening I met Lianne, Martin, Seth and Alicia in St. Johns and we saw the movie “V for Vendetta”. K skipped it. V was a pretty alright movie. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. Some parts of it were really cool, while other parts were kind of lame. I can’t say that I loved it but I also can’t say that I hated it. I guess it was entertaining. It’s strange. I’ll have to think about it some more. Maybe I should read the comic that it was based on. There’s this bit during the middle of the movie that’s a sort of twist that goes against everything you think you have known by what they portrayed in the commercials. I can’t say too much about it. I don’t think I’m a hundred percent behind it. I think it takes two of the four legs out of the plot forcing the movie to balance awkwardly until the end.

After the movie, I hurried home and K and I headed to the place called Grandma’s over off of Holgate. We helped Stu celebrate his birthday by watching people sing Karaoke. I didn’t sing anything.

This morning (actually this afternoon) we woke up, went and had coffees at the coffee shop, and then went to my mom’s house for lunch. We were kind of having a lunch time get together to celebrate my brother’s upcoming birthday.

We have been back from my mom’s for a few hours now. K just headed out the door. She is walking to the Bagdad. I have to hurry up and finish this post so that I can drive the car over there for pizza and beer.

I think I’m going to miss the Simpsons tonight.

That’s pretty much the wrap up of the weekend and the end of spring break!