Buon compleanno, nonno.

Photo bliss in Tucson

I wanted to stay at this viewpoint forever.  During my visit to Tucson I took over 1,000 photos.  I'll gradually be adding some of my favorites to my flickr.  Sometimes I like to try and capture what I see when I'm wearing my brown sunglasses.  I hold them in front of the lens like it's a filter, haha.  I think I made a good call trying it here.

I decided the end of this year is a good time to pick back up at a new blog.  Three years is a pretty good chunk of time for a blog and this one was sporadically used.  I am hoping that I will be more attentive to a blog that feels more current.  Ciao!

America...

I have no problem with leaving for a week.

PDX > TUS

Well, I'm leaving on rainy Portland day, headed to warmer weather. The promise of sun makes flying worth it.

I'm ready

...for a few days in warmer weather!  Looking forward to several days in Arizona coming up, during which I will focus on being outside!  Walking the pups and going out to take photos.  Tucson actually isn't set up too bad, though I wouldn't want to live there.  The mountains to the north and the east provide a good compass, though.  As well, E Broadway Blvd acts like Burnside in Portland, dividing North from South.  Stone Ave seems to divide West/East but I don't think we go over that far!

No pool this visit... :'(

Changes

This is my first time using BlogThis!

My friend Kayley is a talented photographer living in Los Angeles and she told me about her new blog, The Eclectic Mind. It reminds me that I'd like to get a handle on this blogging situation.

One of Kayley's photos that I love:

I colori dell'autunno

Old Town

Grey ol' pdx

It's a myth that every day is like this in Portland, of course.  Maybe because I have lived here all my life, I am becoming somewhat immune to these days.  I tell myself, These days keep Oregon so green, and others believe the weather prevents too many people from moving here.  

Nehalem(?) River

Ok!

Tucson Sunset

Tucson Sunset

Are you a stripper, do you not know what year it is, that it's still summer, or....?

Almost sunset

For people who have a professor that doesn't allow bathroom breaks?

NO! Hahaha

UGH! Don't join the military.

I think the military basically sucks.  For everyone who has a loved one out there somewhere, I hope they return, and with their sanity, too.  For those that have lost someone who was "serving our country," I'm very sorry for that.  I beg of you all, please do not let anyone you love enlist in the military, no matter what benefits and experiences they are promised.  I think the military kills everyone in some way.  

I am thinking about this because of these two men on the MAX this morning.  Not only did one of them personally insult me, but they were horribly loud and were shouting YES SIR at each other and talking about having been Marines.  When the announcement, "The doors are closing" played, the extra crazy guy said WELL THEN CLOSE THEM and it was just unnecessary.  He said to the woman he was sitting behind, "I like your earrings, they look good on you.  But I know you don't want to talk to me because I'm a white boy."  ....?

At this point I turned and glared at him.  The woman almost immediately moved to the next seat in front of her to get away from him.  He would not SHUT UP and stop YELLING so I turned and said, "Could you pipe down, please?"  But he continued, and it was really hard to be around.  So I moved and as I walked down the little steps, he made a rude comment about me.  I'm sorry, he's being extremely disruptive and has the nerve to say something to me?  

I caught myself.  I felt my temper flare and I resisted my natural urge to go back up the stairs and slap him in the face.  I always have to remind myself that it's not worth it.  But people like that guy make me hate people.  And given what they mentioned about having been Marines, and how they were addressing each other, I'm assuming they were veterans gone wacko.  They might have not been.  But how many of us know people that came back from "serving our country" who are now damaged people in some way?  Nightmares, missing limbs, crazy behavior, violent behavior, obsessive behavior......  And those are the people who were fortunate enough to come back.  

I'm not saying I don't support our troops.  I do support them.  I support them COMING HOME.  And not DYING or turning into a freakin' maniac.  

Rawr

Will I ever stop wondering?

I always seem to end up thinking about a certain person, and I wonder...

At the river

Sun at the Oregon Coast!

Pacific Ocean

Manzanita

03 Jul 10

Bad photo but such a pretty view!

Hahaha!

My friend sent me this picture of his friend's cat, and I just can't get over it.

La mia città!

Got the new computer.

I went with an HP that was on sale for $450 at Best Buy. Which of course ended up being like $620 when I got the Geek Squad protection crap. Whatever. I also bought an air conditioner. So my place was all cleaned up on Saturday, and then Sunday I bring more crap home. C'est la vie. A friend came for dinner on Saturday night and was impressed by my tomato sauce, and as well she asked how I have as much stuff as I do in my studio apartment. Borrowing a term from a recent president, it takes a great amount of "strategery" to have that many belongings in that apartment. For sure. (Also, that is one of my projects this summer - de-materializing.)

I am hoping that I get my money's worth out of this laptop I bought. I am already fairly pleased - let's hope it lasts at least a couple of years.

Online dating

Online dating is going about as well as trying to find someone "in real life." Maybe I'm on the wrong site, have a lame profile or bad pictures. I just don't want to put that much effort into it. People already spend so much time on the computer or smartphone. When I go home I often end up on the computer again but I'm not exactly stoked about that...

Interacting with guys who are safely behind a computer screen is interesting. Sometimes you learn a lot in a few short messages. Recently a guy gave me his phone number and said I could text him if I want to. But I was content with continuing to exchange messages on the website and after I told him that, the response I got was something like, "This line is gay....peace out lol." ...Which tells me what I need to know right there.

Ummm....

I'm still alive! Once I get a new computer, I hope to get back into blogging. About EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF MY LIFE. Just kidding. That would suck!