The Jack Noodle Journal

Oh yes.

It is finally Friday. I thought today would never come!
Actually not. It was an indifferent week. A pretty unremarkable work week.

I have been listening to the audiobook version of Philip Pullman’s young adult novel, “The Golden Compass“. I’ll probably finish listening to it today. It’s a pretty awesome book. Young Master Evan let me borrow the book last year but I didn’t get past the second chapter. I think I needed someone to read it to me like this audiobook is doing. Now when I finish this book I’ll be ready for the movie version of the Golden Compass next week.

A great place to listen to audiobooks for me is at work. I should really listen to more. I can put the headphones on, do my work and pretty much get quite a ways through a book during the day. I think I have contemplated the audiobook format here in the journal already. It’s kind of strange isn’t it? I like that you get to form your ideas of what the characters look like in your imagination. You’re kind of reading, but not really. I think I would probably retain more actually reading. I’m sure someone has done a study.

What do you guys and gals have on the hopper for the weekend?
We’ve got a few things going.

Here’s an ultrasound image of baby at 21 weeks. Pretty amazing huh?

No, see it’s a profile. What? No.
It’s the baby’s head.

Yeah. No… and part of it’s chest. Yeah.

Baby is sucking his or her thumb.

I’m finding that people require a bit of an explanation when looking at another’s cherished ultrasound pictures. Some folks don’t seem as excited looking at the printouts as I would have expected. K and I see much more in the images than you do though. I understand that now.

We told the ultrasound technician not to tell us if baby was a boy or girl and she kept her lips sealed. I was kind of hoping that she would slip up. I thought I might have got a glimpse of something but I’m still not sure. It’s kind of making me a tad crazy. I almost feel like I want to know so I can start envisioning baby in my head already. What if I start thinking and dreaming about baby as a little girl and baby comes out a boy? Where do my thoughts and hopes of baby as a boy go when baby comes out a girl? I’m being a little weird about it I know. I’ll be happy with a healthy baby either way.

We are nearing or are into week 22-ish. We have passed the halfway mark!
Everything is moving along so fast.

I feel like maybe I should get more of my thoughts and feelings written out.
Some of my thoughts, concerns, worries and confusions from earlier on in the pregnancy seem to be fading as the new thoughts, concerns, worries and confusions are popping up.

I was amazed once again this afternoon. We’re actually having a baby!
K must be walking around in constant amazement. I can’t imagine.

I’m finding that she finds my humor and jokes much more entertaining.
That’s a pleasant side effect of pregnancy for me.

Perhaps she’s just humoring me.

Hello there, hello there. No, I haven’t taken the holiday season off from posting.
I have just been taking a lot of turkey induced naps.

How has your Thanksgiving weekend been?
Mine has been pretty good. We have been having fun.
We hosted 13 again at the Noodle Compound. K cooked a wonderful turkey and a magnificent goose.
Yes, we cooked your goose.

This has been a marvelously long time off. It hasn’t been that many days away from the office, but I feel like I haven’t worked in weeks. Nice!
What day is it again?

K and I went shopping yesterday. Mostly just window shopping. We visited Babies R’ Us for the first time. Pretty overwhelming place.

We found Gymboree to have much cuter baby clothes. It kind of stinks though because the cuter the baby outfit, the higher the price.

We went to a couple of places and looked at maternity clothes. Here’s my favorite outfit so far. What? Come on. Is it a crime to think pregnant women are beautiful?

We went to the Clackamas Town Center and in the evening we went to Pioneer Place.

Visiting two malls in one day during the busiest shopping weekend of the year would seem to be a crowd battling nightmare, but amazingly it wasn’t too crowded. There were a lot of shoppers out but not enough to be annoying. I’m not that sturdy of a shopper and don’t do full store aisles very well, so for me to feel relatively comfortable is something. Maybe lucking out on close parking all day helped.

“No, we don’t need any help, we’re just looking.”

I was shooting my mouth off while watching the news the other day, wishing that the Black Friday numbers would be low. I was hoping that the retail sector would take a hit so that the economy would take a tumble and the shoppers stumbling all over themselves to break down Target doors at 5 in the morning would have to rethink their gluttonous ways come Christmas time.

Mr. Baptist, sitting next to me during the news watching outburst, politely asked me if I wanted to be laid off and not work? Oh yes. Voice of reason. Good point. I work for a photographer of apparel who supplies retailers with images used to sell products. My livelihood is dependent on high turnout and big sales on Black Friday. I shant speak another word of ill towards the gluttonous pigs knocking each other over in the morning hours, scrambling to get their free promotional mp3 players.

EVERYONE DO MORE SHOPPING! SPEND MORE MONEY!

Last but not least:

Run, don’t walk to see the movie, “No Country For Old Men“. We saw it on Friday night. It was incredible. An amazing contemplation. Masterfully executed. Gosh, how many more movie review quotes can I make? From the first moment Javier Barden steps on the screen until a few hours after I left the movie theater and was sitting at home I was tense. This guy is creepy.
The Coen brothers are awesome film makers. It was such a pleasure to view such a wonderfully crafted work. They led you along perfectly through the story. No Country For Old Men was an amazingly quiet film. Long moments of silence. It was riveting. Barely any music. I think the silent moments helped increase the tension.
I noticed some grumbling from the crowd about the ending when we were filing out of the theater. I thought the ending was magnificent though. Definitely not a Hollywood ending. That’s why I loved it. Requires some thinking.

Go see it. Really.

The sound of my clothes dryer.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The sound of the headache that the squeaking dryer has given me.

I have the TV turned way up to drown out the squeak.
I can still hear it though.
Perry Mason is on right now.

We need a new washer and dryer.

I had a pretty substantial freak out about money over the weekend.
I need to start making twice as much money as I am now.
How do I go about doing that?
I think I need to start selling something.

Come on. I’m not asking for that much. Just double.
I don’t need to be a millionaire.

Family came to town over the weekend.
Bring on the turkey.

Here are my albums of the year picks in the form of a mix disc, or as I have been calling it : “Songs we listened to while you were in your mommy’s belly mix”

1. “Wet And Rusting” by Menomena from the album “Friend and Foe”
2. “Plaster Casts Of Everything” by Liars from the album “Liars”
3. “Icky Thump” by The White Stripes from the album “Icky Thump”
4. “Satan Said Dance” by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah from the album “Some
Loud Thunder”
5. “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John from the album “Writer’s Block”
6. “Seahorse” by Devendra Banhart from the album “Smokey Rolls Down
Thunder Canyon”
7. “Parting of the Sensory” by Modest Mouse from the album “We Were
Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”
8. “(Antichrist Television Blues)” by The Arcade Fire from the album “Neon Bible”
9. “In This Twilight” by Nine Inch Nails from the album “Year Zero”
10. “The White Flash” by Modeselektor from the album “Happy Birthday!”
11. “Faxed Invitation” by Underworld from the album “Oblivion With Bells”
12. “All My Friends” by LCD Soundsystem from the album “Sound of Silver”
13. “Videotape” by Radiohead from the album “In Rainbows”

It’s a pretty sweet line up. I think I have it in a pretty good order mix disc wise. It starts out rocking and ends on a quiet note.

NOTE:
The Peter Bjorn and John and song, as well as the Modest Mouse song make the list as great singles. Good for mix discs. The albums they came from were good but not end of the year list good.

Devendra makes the list with a pretty good 2007 selection. We discovered Devendra this year but I think that his 2005 album “Cripple Crow” would be a better best of list choice.

There you have it.

Did the Thanksgiving holiday sneak up on you like it did me? Well, I guess there’s still a week until the turkey arrives. With everyone hurrying the holiday season along Thanksgiving popped right in there.

They are saying that it will probably be a tough year on retail because consumer confidence is so low this holiday shopping season. I say good. You all look like morons anyway spending money that you don’t have on crap that people don’t want or need anyway. There’s a pointless war going on right now and the World is circling the drain people! You can’t keep using shopping as a means to ease the pain and avoid dealing. Can you? Maybe you can. I don’t know.

Anyways I got off on a side there.

Last week I saw that Stylus already had their top 50 albums of 2007 picked out. Isn’t a little early? I mean, we still have a month and a half left. There could still be a few good new albums released this year right? I guess Stylus wanted to hurry the holidays along as well.

Metacritic has their best of up but I think it has been automatically generating throughout the year.

Last year I was amazed by the number of albums on the best of lists that I hadn’t heard of. I think this year there is an even larger percentage of albums I missed. Maybe I should stay more up to date with the releases next year. You know though, I bet I won’t be able to stay up to date with anything next year.

This year for my best of 2007 list I am going to present it here for you in the form of a mix disc. I’m going to start constructing it now. The mix disc will have songs from my favorite albums of 2007. I won’t be doing any ranking. No top ten.

We got back last night from a wonderful weekend at the beach. K’s idea. A very good one. It was gorgeous at the coast. Pretty windy on Sunday. I think that’s where today’s gusts here came from. Lots of sun at the beach. That was exciting. We are quite lucky to have such a magnificent coast line here in Oregon aren’t we? The nature and views are inspiring.

A very relaxing weekend. We stayed at the Park Motel in Florence. It was a nice motel. They were very dog friendly which is good for us. It almost had a Twin Peaks feel to it but not quite. We’ll be staying there again for sure.

I had my “We should move to the beach” thoughts again. I don’t know. You can read about my move to the beach thoughts in detail here. I won’t go over them again. I should almost have a “thoughts on moving to the beach” category.

On the way back home we took the leisurely trip up 101 instead of through Salem and up I-5. A much better trip if you have the time. We stopped at a few places that I don’t ever remember being at before like the Devil’s Punch Bowl. That’s an amazing sight! Not sure why I never stopped there before.

We stopped in Rockaway and played on the beach there for a while. We went to look for Officer Steve and family but weren’t sure if their mini-van was grey or white. We ended up just standing outside of the Harmon beach compound hooting. We didn’t see anyone come to the back door so we ran away.

Cannon Beach was our last stop. We went and had dinner at Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse. It was pretty tasty. They brew their own beer there, so I checked that out. K had fish and chips. I had the oyster burger.

I think the last time I was in Cannon Beach was in 2004. Over the last few years we have been staying down further South in Newport and Waldport. In 2004 I filmed my Phillip movie at Cannon Beach. I was trying to show K the spot in the movie where Phillip was running down the stairs and onto the beach. We couldn’t find it again. There was an area that sort of looked right but the stairs were wrong. Is it possible that Cannon Beach has changed so much in 3 years that they even remodeled the beach access? I don’t know. I should watch the movie again and look at the beach scenery closer.

Alright. I have a confession to make.

I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.

Ah… Oh man.
A weight has been lifted now that I confessed.

The car I used when I first learned to drive was a manual transmission but that was 20 years ago.

I’m not the tough, truck driving man that you thought I was.

K gave me some lessons on the Matrix at the beach this weekend.
My first attempt wasn’t very pretty. My second try was more smooth.
So embarrassing.

She doesn’t want to be driven to the hospital in my Ford escort when she is in labor. I don’t blame her. It’s pretty lame.

I’ll get driving a stick down soon.

Today is Veteran’s Day. Merry Veteran’s to you. I really feel for you poor kids currently in the military. Thanks for protecting me so I can go have fun filled weekends at the beach.

Pretty much the whole gang has today off so I think we are in store for some more fun and excitement.
Right now I have to wash the dishes and do the chores I neglected over the weekend.

Subject: Please drink more coffee

Howdy all,

Since I am here first every morning I am probably the only one who has noticed this startling trend.

WE HAVEN’T BEEN DRINKING ENOUGH COFFEE!

I have been pouring out half a pot to a full pot of coffee from the day before every morning.

People, if we aren’t going to do our parts in supporting our local business friends at Stumptown Coffee Roasters by drinking their brew then we are going to have to:

A: maybe only use one of the pots per day instead of two, or
B: only make half a pot of coffee when the time reaches 11:30AM to lunch time

Thanks

(Wait a second. If we continue to keep pouring the coffee down the drain, then we will be supporting Stumptown even more by buying MORE of their coffee. Oh, I am so confused now!)

Is this week flying by or what? I think my fog of tiredness broke around mid-afternoon yesterday. I am already excited about the weekend!

So on Monday I got an email saying that the Decemberist show that we were going to see in December was cancelled. We had tickets to the Friday December 7th show. What up with that? I found mention of the cancellation on another website that said it was due to an illness? Cancel the whole tour though? Maybe I should look it up and find the official explanation. Ah here it is. Oh well. I hope the sick band member gets better.

Wait a second. How is it possible that I paid 71 dollars for two 25 dollar tickets? $10.50 per ticket mark up? Nice work Ticketmaster! Lame. Last time I saw the Decemberists I think I got into Lola’s room for free.
Yeah, yeah no one wants to hear about it grandpa.

Between podcasts and news listens at the office, I have been listening exclusively to Radiohead this week. My iPod tells me that by the end of today I will have listened to all of the 84 Radiohead songs that it houses in it’s luxurious frame. What does this mean? What is the significance? I’m not sure yet.

I have been listening exclusively to my “Dirty On The Inside” Nine Inch Nails mix CD in the car this week. Cranked really loud. It is an amazing mix. Everything I love about NIN is captured there. If you want to know what the deal is with me and Nine Inch Nails then that disc will explain it for you. Every song is perfectly placed. Yummy. I should get a hold of the track list for you. If I wasn’t afraid of prison at the moment I would totally burn a copy for you.

I hadn’t thought about the Dirty On The Inside mix for a while and then the other night I got into K’s car and she was blasting it out of her speakers. My jaw dropped with joy and amazement when she said that she was playing it so baby could hear it! Baby can now hear the music her or his parents are listening too.

Yes, Little Noodle will be raised on tunes like “Happiness in Slavery” and “March of the Pigs”.
How do you like them apples?

Hey hey how’s your Tuesday?

Mine is alright so far this morning.
Okay, what is the deal with this time change? Why do we change the clocks back again? No wait, don’t tell me. I ask this same question every time we mess with the clocks and I never remember the answer. I’m totally awake right now which is way cool but I know I’m going to be tired this evening. The work day is going to totally drag isn’t it? K and I were bummed out yesterday when it was dark by 5:30.

I had a great Monday off and a lovely weekend.

We did quite a bit of house cleaning over the weekend. K emptied her closet and major surgery to the bedroom. We took a huge car load of stuff to the goodwill. We filled up our trash can and recycling bins. It feels so good to get rid of stuff and have a nice clean space.

I was up in the attic doing some measuring. The attic gets smaller each time I go up there. It was so large in my mind while imagining all the rooms we were going to put up there. It’s the slant of the roof. Gets you every time.

The house is all measured and photographed up. Everything is now in the masterful hands of my architect. Very exciting.

Yesterday we went to see the doctor for our monthly check up. Week 18 of baby on board. Everything is moving along smashingly. We are going to try to think of some questions to ask them next time. They kept trying to prod us into having a question. We’re pretty chillaxed at the moment. Just sitting and watching the belly grow. I’ll tell you what folks, there is a gorgeous mommy in the makings.

They had me press on K’s belly to feel the baby. I did and told them I felt it even though I wasn’t sure. I felt weird poking baby with my man hands. I don’t want to hurt the little guy or gal!

They had some actual size and weight baby dolls that they let us hold to get a feel for how big baby is. Pretty crazy. There was a mammoth increase in the size of the 16 week doll and the 20 week doll. We have a major growth spurt coming. The 20 week doll was pretty heavy. I can’t image caring that around in my belly. I marvel at how you ladies do it.

We have been enjoying the recently arrived Twin Peaks DVD box set. It is so good to visit those people again. The remastered sound and picture is something to behold I tell you. Crystal clear. They really don’t make network television like they used to.