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Whew!

So we have come through Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday and the following weekend unscathed!

Of course Cam was quite impressed with the intensity of seriousness we give these holidays. We noticed quite a few establishments offering themselves up for those who had nowhere to go or people to see on Turkey night. It's a night, almost as much as Christmas, where it is imperative that you be SOMEWHERE and with other people. It doesn't really matter where, just as long as you can report later that you were indeed doing something.

Cam and I were graciously invited to Kevin's sister's house along with about 18 other people to their beautiful house in Mt. Tabor. While the Marcotte brothers worked on getting the turkeys perfectly basted, the crowd mingled in order to distract ourselves from our hunger. We went on a short hike up the hill to an old volcano mound that a nice park had been built upon. The neighborhood was very cute and kitsch and on our way back we snagged a house-for-sale flyer with modest asking price of 1.3 mil.

When we returned, dinner was almost ready and we admired the pretty table that Julie and the kids had helped lay out.

Now Cam knows how to make a turkey out of tracing your hand on paper.

Our Thanksgiving meal, I could say was very traditional and at the same time not. We all ate our delicious food and then afterwards stayed at the table and played a charades game. From there, some people drifted away to tend to children or cleaning up. Most of us stayed and drank wine and gossiped about this and that. Most of the Thanksgiving meals I have attended have usually involved football or at least a TV blasting the Macy Day parade, but there was never a hint of either during the evening. Sitting at the table, one can only take for so long so I went and helped 6 year old Grace color a picture of the Little Mermaid, while Cam drew Optimus Prime for 7 year old Ben (who now worships Cam as well as OP).

Afterwards, I gave up trying to be formal and passed out in a chair. I was upset on our way home that I had done so, but I really had no other choice. Sometimes, you just want to be tranquil mood instead of making conversation after gorging yourself.

The next day was Black Friday. It's a bit of a ridiculous American tradition created on its own accord, where the masses immediately give up on one holiday and dive head first into the next. It's recorded every year as being the biggest shopping day and people start around 4am in order to get the best sales (Yes, the mall opens around then.) The Mac Store was madness but people there wanted the best deals mostly for themselves, perhaps wanting to save a buck on that iPod before they have to start spending money on everyone else. It's a day that is just as gluttonous as Turkey Day.

And so here comes Christmas! Cam and I have to put up our lights now!

Posted in: chaosgurl, party time, united states on November 27, 2007 at at 1:43:00 PM 0 comments    

Finally, common sense prevails in my country!

The era of John Winston Howard, the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, is finally, mercifully over. His 11 and a half years in power may have been marked by strong economic times, but there is more to quality of life, of pride in your country than money.

Put simply, we became less of a nation under his leadership. Mandatory detention for asylum-seekers (often off-shore in foreign countries!), the absolute refusal to acknowledge the very real threat of global warming, draconian workplace relations policies (the Patricks stevedores dispute, WorkChoices, etc.), the inability to say "sorry" to the stolen generation of indigenous Australians: these are the real marks of the Howard era that defined our country during his time in power, marks that made me ashamed of the face my country presented to the world.

We really should have known right from the start when he declared a whole raft of promises made before the 1996 election as "non-core" promises. Apparently it's okay to go back on your word to the people of your country if it's a "non-core" promise. But no, somehow he kept winning elections, mainly through fear-mongering and divisiveness: fear of the outside world and border security in 2001 when he turned the Tampa - a Norwegian freighter that had rescued hundreds of asylum-seekers from their sinking ship - into the most unlikely political weapon, one that turned the electoral tide his way; and fear of change in 2004, when he claimed that he, and only he, could stop interest rates from rising. It worked for him then, but became a noose around his neck leading into this election as interest rates rose rapidly.

After carving out a political career by being uncannily able to read the mood of the people and quickly work on a way to exploit that mood, this ability deserted Howard leading up to this election. He no longer had the full support of his own party, but he decided to stay on as leader for one more election anyway. Pride? Ego? Perhaps. John Howard has always been very concerned with his "legacy", the way history will view him from a distance. Maybe he really felt that he was the only person who could get things done right. Whatever, it became painfully obvious as the campaign wore on that he had stayed on too long.

History may now remember him as only the second Australian Prime Minister ever to lose his own seat at a Federal election after Stanley Bruce in 1929. The Labor candidate for his electorate of Bennelong in Sydney's north, Maxine McKew (an ex-TV political journalist who used to interview John Howard on TV every week), is just ahead in a very tight-run race. As she says, "Bennelong is on a knife edge." Even if she doesn't win, she has played her part in the Labor victory, as she forced John Howard to campaign locally every weekend leading up to the election, when he would rather have been out on the national hustings.

So onto a new government - that of Kevin Rudd and his Labor party. It's been a long time in opposition, and the time ahead will be difficult. The Senate (upper house) will still be ruled by the Liberal Party until July, so passing any new laws will be nigh-on impossible until then. After July, it seems as if minor parties will control the balance of power in the Senate, meaning careful negotiation with often conflicting interests will be required to get legislature passed.

I'll leave you with a short excerpt from a London Times article about Howard's end (surely a headline in some tabloid newspaper?), an interesting view of how he was observed by the rest of the world:

It is a remarkable comedown for the big-spending populist. He is the diminutive 69-year-old who, memorably, turned the country’s SAS forces on a bunch of impoverished, ragged asylum-seekers before winning the 2001 election. He is the former solicitor who used his renowned capacity for fear-mongering to win the last election in 2004, when he mounted a scare campaign against the Labor Party’s ability to hold down interest rates. He is the hard-of-hearing grandad who prides himself on being in touch with the aspirations of ordinary Australians.

There is no single answer for John Howard’s rapidly declining popularity. Undoubtedly he has suffered poor luck. He has, however, also been the victim of his own unfortunate timing and misread the true level of support he enjoys among his colleagues. And he has stayed too long.

Posted in: australia, chaosboy, politics on November 24, 2007 at at 9:45:00 AM 1 comments    

It's no secret that Christine and I are poor. So much so that even if we wanted to, there's no way we could even think of owning a car, even a rusty old bomb. And that's okay most of the time: our trusty bikes and good ol' MAX get us most of the places we need to go.

However, sometimes you just need a car. What else can you do when you're moving large objects from one place to the other, or have too much shopping to carry home on our bikes or public transport (and believe me, we've tried on the bikes and have almost broken our backs!)? That's when the truly brilliant Flexcar comes to the rescue. Cars are left in dedicated parking spots all over Portland (and many other cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, LA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Fran and Seattle) and members simply reserve them for the hours they need them.

From there, it's just a matter of walking up to the car (our nearest one is two blocks away), swiping a security card over a reader mounted inside the windshield to unlock the car, getting the key and driving away! Gas is included in the hourly rate, which can be as low as $6/hour, although $10 is more usual. All you have to do is fill the car up if it's 3/4 empty (using the supplied fleet card) and maybe wash the car if it's dirty, then return the car to its original parking space before your time expires. It's a brilliantly simple idea, and one which is growing in popularity, especially in progressive cities like Portland.

It's nor meant to replace traditional rental cars: you can't keep the car out of its spot overnight, and driving it more than 150 miles incurs additional fees, but it is fantastic for people who only need a car rarely... people like us!

Posted in: chaosboy, portland, united states on November 15, 2007 at at 4:49:00 PM 1 comments    

Portland is home to many, many awesome bands... all of which I hope to see live at some point. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we can share the work of some of these bands with you. First up is The Shins, whose concert in early December is unfortunately sold out (so sad!)... this track is obliquely entitled "Australia" (yay!), apparently because they wrote it while on tour down under. Enjoy! (It's a terribly cute clip, by the way)

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland on November 13, 2007 at at 5:36:00 PM 0 comments    

I've been looking forward to the upcoming Australian election for a long, long time: at last we seem to have a half-decent chance of ridding ourselves of Little Johnny and his cronies. So I've been meticulously organised and have got all my forms in to the Australian Electoral Commission to make sure I can have my say. My ballots arrived today, including the by-now traditional table cloth-sized Senate form (anyone feel like numbering from 1 to 79 below the line?). They're all filled out now, ready to head back home and help vote the Libs out. My only regret is that I didn't change my registered voting address back to my parents' house before I left: that way I could have personally voted against the garden gnome myself in Bennelong... go Maxine!

Posted in: australia, chaosboy, politics on at at 4:43:00 PM 1 comments    

Hey!

It's me and Cam isn't pulling a one man show over here. We are still happily living in our little blissful bubble. However, you don't realize how long you've been in one place until you go somewhere else. Just driving out of town a few hours and you suddenly feel like you are in a new country. Even going to Seattle for the second time, there were always things to point out that are so different than what we have grown accustomed.

We had a blast though and were very near the Space Needle and the EMP so walking anywhere was made possible. The weather held up great and we tried a bunch of new places to eat at.

One in particular was Kevin's suggestion for breakfast, the Five Point Cafe. Just walking up to it, you get an uneasy feeling that this kinda place would not serve a good latte and pancakes. We walk in and the atmosphere is so dark that finding a table is difficult. We sit down and the waitress gives us some menus and we are short of conversation as the speakers blast explicit music right above our heads. We are sitting next to the bar where the patrons appear to have been there for days and the kids in the booth next to us are sipping whiskey and beer. Its 10 on a Saturday morning. The walls are plastered with posters, bumper stickers, ol beer ads and Cam wouldn't even tell me what the boy's loo had set up in there.

We waited nearly an hour for our food to finally show up and I was getting a bit ansy but it made it all worth it. It was absolutely delicious. We finally busted out into the sunshine, laughing how the Five Point is a great way to start your day.

For the rest of the day we toured the EMP (Experience Music Project) and the Sci-Fi Museum which I surprisingly really enjoyed. The music part of the museum was packed full of information on artists whom I was not too familiar but everyone could relate to the Sci-Fi museum somehow without knowing or caring about Star Trek. They had life size replicas and models of robots and monsters from movies, guns, philosophies, masks, space ships. It was all laid out through a series of tunnels and rooms which made it somewhat more interactive. Most of the artifacts in both museums, was noticed, belonged to one guy, Paul Allen, who owns much of Microsoft. Just being rich can't make you that intense of a collector. That's a state of madness.

Cam and I also visited the Seattle Art Museum for a taste of culture. It had dab of this and that ranging from Contemporary to Italian porcelain to a fun exhibit on how the Japanese envisioned America back from the 16th century and onward. At one point a security woman advised me that I was not allowed to carry an umbrella in the exhibit and generally was suppose to check it in downstairs. We nodded our heads and went upstairs if not to just have a quick look. We managed to get through the whole museum with me carrying my umbrella. We were just ready to leave when I was approached again and told that umbrellas were against policy. The guy was terribly polite and seemed to only be letting me know this. We let him know that we had had no idea and then we left the museum. We found it amusing that although umbrellas were not allowed in the museum it certainly was not enforced. And we certainly never found exactly why umbrellas, closed and hanging on my bag, were not allowed.

Seattle held itself together until the last minute until we had to leave and let the rain loose. Getting home took half the time getting there with the little traffic and being in Portland again already makes the weekend seem like a distant memory. But it was super fun hanging out with family and experiencing new bars. I'm a bit sad that I won't be able to go have a good Thanksgiving with the fam this year as getting time off work will be impossible, but Kevin will be lending us his which should make for some good times and give Cam a chance to see what the holiday is all about (gluttony!).

Posted in: chaosgurl, travel on November 12, 2007 at at 5:19:00 PM 0 comments    

As part of the paperwork required for our I-485 residency interview, I had to get an I-693A (don't you love the way all forms are known by their filing number?) Vaccination Supplement completed and signed by a USCIS-approved physician. Fortunately, I didn't have to have another entire medical done as I had one done within the last year for my K-1 Fiance Visa... although only just!

I found a doctor over near NW 23rd Avenue who would do the job for a mere $10, so Christine and I headed off there yesterday morning on our bikes. His tiny office specialises in travel and immigration cases (I'm guessing he goes through a lot of syringes!) and seemed to be doing a roaring trade; there were some Mexicans and Uzbekistanis amongst the people in the waiting room. I overheard someone say that the doctor speaks fluent Spanish and Russian, which would come in handy in his line of work.

The efficient receptionist filled out the form quickly and the doctor signed and sealed it into an official envelope that I have to give to the immigration official at our interview. I asked the doctor for a copy and he smiled and told me it was just an exact transcription of my vaccination record from my original medical exam! The only difference is that it was now on an Official American Piece Of Paper with "I-693A" in the top left corner. Ah, bureaucracy! The doctor then wished me the best of luck, told me to be patient and opined that immigration officials "aren't very nice people". I left with a smile on my face.

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on November 7, 2007 at at 5:19:00 PM 0 comments    

... you hear an ad for a family law firm on the radio and their phone number is 1-800-DIVORCE.

Posted in: chaosboy, united states, weirdness on at at 8:49:00 AM 0 comments    

Riding home from having lunch with Christine today, the odometer on my bike ticked over to 1,000 miles ridden, or just over 1,600km. I feel tired just thinking about it!

Posted in: chaosboy, sport on November 5, 2007 at at 2:54:00 PM 0 comments    

So Halloween has now been and gone... and we had a blast! As you can see from the picture above, our night of pumpkin carving was a great success. Christine and I bought a cheap book of templates and carving tools from Fred Meyer to aid us in our endeavours - a great investment! This is my Scary Tree, which would certainly terrify me if I was five years old. Christine did a Black Cat, but in her inimitable way, added some sweet wings to personalise it more. However, once we brought our jack-o-lanterns home, they rapidly disintegrated into disgusting piles of goo and mould as Portland's humidity and our warm house took their effect. Kim reckons that the big chain stores freeze their pumpkins and, because of that, they have a very high water content. Whatever the reason, they didn't live to see Halloween.

Our next seasonal activity was heading out to Suavie Island to the northwest of Portland to experience the Corn Maize (geddit?). Every year, a new maze is cut into a large corn field and people come from miles around to get lost in it. However, in mid-October, the ground has been rained on and trodden on so many times that it has turned into thick, gooey, icky mud that gets almost ankle-deep in parts. We slurped and sucked our way through the maze dutifully before signing up for the real attraction: a ride in the Cow Train! Wheeee!!!!!

Finally, it was onto the main events: costume parties! Christine spent ages on her costume: Tank Girl, one of her favourite cult comic book characters. For the first party, I decided to repurpose my astronaut outfit, paint my face a horrid shade of green and call myself a Space Zombie. Why not?

The Saturday night party was great fun, although the Witches' Brew was 90% vodka and incredibly potent. There were lots of amazing costumes, so I decided to lift my game for the Wednesday Night Actual Halloween party. A quick trip to a thrift store and Fred Meyer's gave me everything I needed to create my Australian masterpiece costume: Dead Steve Irwin, complete with stingray tail piercing my heart. Here's Steve and Tank Girl together:

The blonde wig was cut down from Christine's Tammy Faye Bakker costume from last year and felt every bit as hideous as it looks. The party was down at the White Eagle pub and they had an impromptu costume show. At Christine's insistence, I got up on stage. The compere asked me who I was and I explained: "Crikey! I'm the Croc Hunter and this is me mate, Stingy!" As I said this, at least half a dozen people in the audience were visibly shocked, which I just find hilarious. Is more than a year after his death still too soon? Anna Nicole Smith was already fair game for some people, but the Croc Hunter seems to be revered in these parts! Still, great fun was had by all!

And for the record, we tried Burgerville's Pumpkin Milkshakes. Blame Gene... he insisted that we did. They're actually very good, although they're sweetened with spices and whipped cream, so it's actually pretty hard to detect any real "pumpkin-ness" in them.

Posted in: chaosboy, party time, portland, united states on at at 11:16:00 AM 0 comments