What a great combination! And what a great, long weekend it's been! First of all, we didn't have to travel anywhere so the weather that has plagued everyone, didn't bother us. We were able to just sit back, relax, open presents on Christmas Eve, listen to some Christmas music, do a lot of sleeping in, eat a lot of food and get ready for the upcoming week of work (I'm only working Monday and Tuesday, however).
Since it rained almost without break for the entire break, we didn't get out to do anything, but that was fine, because it allowed us to catch up on indoor activities. Not that I'm proud of it, but we did watch a lot of movies this weekend - some good ones too:
MOVIE REVIEW
- "Priceless" was really good! The previews looked good, but since it was a foreign film, we were hesitant. Dohnele made me get it and I was glad she did. Good acting, fun story, happy ending... What more could you want?! A
- "The Women" was an a pretty good movie. Definitely a chick flick and a bit slow, but entertaining and the story kept moving right along. Plus, the acting was fun. B+
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"Mama Mia" was interesting. The acting was good, but the movie was definitely a chick flick. I only liked it because of the music. Speaking of which, this movie is more of a musical play than an actual movie. Still fun to watch though. B
- "The House Bunny" was hilarious. One of those no-brain comedy-type movies that everyone enjoys, but nobody's sure why. Nonetheless if you like movies put on by Adam Sandler (which this movie is) then you'll enjoy it! B+
- "Traitor" was an interesting movie. Lots of good action and plenty of suspense. The ending kind of made us feel a bit weird, but it was still a good movie. Watch it and let us know what you think. B+
- "Death Race" was awesome! A long time ago we watched the old version of this movie "Death Race 2000" with Sylvester Stallone and enjoyed it. The remake was even better! Lots of blood, guts, violence and uncensored entertainment. Fun story, decent acting, good ending, all that good stuff! A
- "Step Brothers" was good, but long. Maybe it was because we watched the unrated version, but it still seemed unnecessarily long. Subsequently, it was a bit boring. Just another one of those movies featuring grown men living at home - and definitely not one of the best. Still entertaining, however. C+
OK, now that I have your attention, Dohnele and I have decided to start a semi-annual blogging tradition; a poll! And we're going to do our very best to keep politics out of it... At least for the first bit... We may give in to temptation at a later date. There's some background information underneath the poll if you're still wondering what this is all about.
So here's our first poll question:
We're going to try and keep our opinion out of the poll, but we recently read an article in National Geographic (not yet available online) that said pretty much the exact thing that this article states from several years ago. Here's an article from a Canadian, considering similar circumstances for the Canadian cent. And finally, a more balanced article from USAToday.
It's unbelievable what a few miles can make in terms of the weather. Here in Sutherlin, it's been partly cloudy and about 42 degrees. The snow level is at about 1,600 feet and even there, the snow is less than six inches deep. Today I even did a bit of work in only a t-shirt!
However, if you drive ONE HOUR north to Eugene, the roads turn icy and snowy almost immediately, the temperature drops 15-20 degrees and the snow level drops down to sea-level! The stretch between Salem and Portland is supposed to be the worst. There is actually a chain requirement for ALL vehicles (no 4x4 exceptions) for all interstate highways in the city limits of Portland. Both I-5 and I-84 have been closed intermittently this week. Take a look at this video which was recently on the local news:
And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to nowhere to sell you! Ha!
A really interesting article got put out in the Medford paper recently; an article that puts things into perspective and paints an interesting picture of what the Pacific Northwest could look like if things go unchecked. Enjoy!
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And on the lighter side of things, click on this link for some quick entertainment.
Both of us hate the snow. However, when it falls on a day that you don't have to drive anywhere (work, grocery store, etc.) it's not so bad! We actually had a lot of fun out in it and Emma had a blast!
On Friday we finalized our list of stops for our trip to Portland. We had to do it on Saturday, because that was when Josh was free. Meanwhile, the weather had been predicting tons of snow for about ten days. We kept a close watch on the weather and finally decided that if we got up early on Saturday and left as soon as temps crept above freezing, we’d be able to maximize the amount of time we could spend in Portland while not compromising safety.
On Saturday we got up and around at 6AM and found fresh snow on the ground. We were a little worried about the road conditions so we waited an hour or so for the sun to come up. Jonas was only worried about the stretch between here and Cottage Grove. We hit the road around 7AM and found the roads slushy and a bit icy between here and Cottage Grove, so we drove slow and made it over the one small pass. By the time we got to Eugene it was sunny, but still cold. We made it to Costco where we picked up a few items. Then we were off to Portland where we would meet up with my brother Josh. Josh was spending a few days in Portland, checking out the area, and then flying on to San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting for work.
We picked up Josh at 11:30AM. It was so good to see him! We decided to make IKEA our first stop. I was so excited to finally go there! IKEA was bigger than I imagined it would be. We got a bit turned around in the place as a matter of fact! Then we figured out how the store was set up. First you go upstairs where you can walk around in staged rooms of various furnishings and accessories. Then once you have found the item you want to purchase you write down the aisle and bin numbers of the product. Then you proceed downstairs to the warehouse where they house all of the boxed items for purchasing. We found and bought a couple of really nice bookcases at an amazing price for Emma’s ever-growing book collection. IKEA also has two restaurants which are really tasty. The Swedish meatballs are excellent! So yeah, IKEA is awesome! Their products are so versatile and well made and at a good price! It is safe to say I have found my furnishing store for life!
Our next place of interest was downtown Portland! Powell’s Book is an awesome place. You could seriously spend several days there and still not see all the books housed there. We found a lot of cool books, but nothing we really needed. Leaving the bookstore it started to rain heavily; and it was already really cold. We trekked a few blocks to Pioneer Place Mall where Josh did some shopping. Then we found a Starbucks and chatted and sipped on some tasty drinks (Emma had a rice-crispy treat). At 5PM we decided to hit the road and begin our three hour drive home so that we could get home before it really froze up. So we dropped Josh off to meet up with some of his friends and said “good-bye.” I was so sad leaving – I loved visiting with Josh and I love Portland!
The trip home was pretty uneventful. Emma slept most of the way. We did stop off at Borders in Eugene to pick up a box of Christmas cards and an awesome Christmas CD called “Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Christmas Eve & Other Stories.” We listened to it on the way home. There was really only one bad spot on the drive home where the road was slushy and icy again, but we just slowed down a lot.
On Sunday we cooked up some amazingly tasty food: 1) herbed pizza with tomatoes, feta, shiitake mushrooms and onions and 2) tomato, onion, fresh mozzarella and basil salad. The pizza was the best either one of us has eaten – EVER! Then we wrote up and packaged 22 Christmas Cards! Then we assembled the two bookcases from IKEA. The instructions were really easy and the results are awesome! I can’t believe how versatile they are! You can have the bookcases vertical or horizontal. You can add plastic legs or metal legs or wooden legs (all included). You can add shelves. You can add glass or wooden doors. And you can connect as many book shelves together as you want – high or wide. They are awesome! Emma and Jonas had a great time making them!
NOTE FROM JONAS
It's still cold here. Today the temp got UP to 29 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to get UP to 31. You should look at the satellite imagery. A huge wad of warm, wet air from Hawaii shot due north, through Kodiak and up into the Alaskan Interior. That warm front (the jet stream) squeezed all the cold air out of Alaska and Canada and sent it south to Washington, Oregon and California. So let's review... Warm air into Alaska (Kodiak is rainy and Delta Junction is above zero!) Cold air down shot down south (clear and cold in Sitka, snow on the Oregon coast, temps in the teens here in Sutherlin and much colder in central Oregon). I had to shovel the driveway this morning before I went to work at 6am and instead of taking I-5, I drove in on Hwy. 99 which I figured had less crazy people driving on it. The whole way was icy and snowy! And the BLM office wouldn't let us go out to the field unless we absolutely had to. Subsequently, I sat inside and through a really boring budgeting meeting all day. This afternoon was fun though; a bunch of us discussed restoration plans for streams this coming summer. When this whole storm was blowing in - literally - we had a really windy day and when we were driving into Roseburg to visit Blockbuster, we saw a tree limb fall on an elevated power transformer and the whole thing exploded in sparks and blue, white and orange light! Simultaneously, all the lights in the area turned off for a few seconds and then clicked back on as power was re-routed. It was really cool to watch!
I successfully have registered for both my online physics and calculus courses. I also just bought the textbooks online which was ridiculously expensive, but whatever; when it's all over with I'll get a nice (expensive) paperweight out of the deal!
Here's some BIG news!!! We disconnected most of our cable! It's soooo liberating not to "have" to watch garbage and commercials (also garbage). We felt that we were wasting way too much time in front of the "babysitter." I would have gotten rid of all the cable, but then Charter would have jacked up our internet costs. So we still have about 20 channels, which is more than enough. We're saving $15 a month now, which isn't much and we no longer get the Food Network, but we have so much more time to do other, more productive things!
DOHNELE NOTE: I miss my 80 channels!!!! I want it back!!!! All the good channels are now gone. Oh, and I happen to love commercials!!!
EMMA UPDATE
Emma can count to five, all by herself, completely unprompted! Last night when we were building the bookcases we had all the nuts and bolt laid out on the floor. Emma all of a sudden started to count them all by herself! She said “1, 2, 3, 4, 5!” We were so amazed!!! We had counted with Emma on a few occasions and she would repeat each number after we’d say them. We didn’t know she could count on her own though. Kids are such sponges at this age!
MOVIE REVIEWS
- "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" was actually really good. Sure it's a bit juvenille, but it was still fun to watch. A-
- "Wanted" was a really entertaining movie. Lots of fun to watch. The ending was really good, but left us feeling a bit odd. It seemed to imply that if you're bored, anyone can pick up a gun and become an assassin. B
- "Fred Claus" was also a good movie. We're not big fans of Vince Vaughn, but he did a good job in this movie. The story was really cute and the acting was pretty good too. A
- "Horton Hears a Who" was really cute too! Gosh, we're passing out good reviews like candy here! It's a really funny, animated flick that stays fairly true to the original book and is good entertainment for all ages. The characters are really brought to life by their voices. It's the voices that really makes the movie! A-
Environmentalists have been talking about it for the duration of the past administration... What has the Bush Whitehouse, Supreme Court appointees and congress done for the environment when industrialization and commercialization has been pushed into center stage at the expense of the environment?
Among other things, water quality and quantity has been sacrificed in many cases. Among president-elect Obama's priorities is the improvement of water quality regulation and deliverance. Take a look at this recent article from U.S. News and World Report.
Dohnele hasn't let me live down the fact that I didn't get a Christmas Tree last year. I just didn't want to deal with the conflict between ornaments and infant. In any case, she talked me into it this year, so we now have one in our living room and it really does look great! But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Last week at work was a good one - aside from thinking about the classes I have to take starting next month. I spent a few days planning stream restoration projects for a contract that is getting put together for this coming summer. The fieldwork involved a lot of hiking in seriously incised streams choked with blackberry and rose bushes (lots and lots of thorns) and a lot of poison oak. I've never been in contact with more poison oak, but interestingly no rash. I also got out with my middle school class that I "advise" once a week. The same eighth grade class has been doing water quality sampling work as part of their science curriculum for over ten years and I picked the project up when I got the job here in Roseburg.
Yesterday, we went up to Eugene for the day. We needed to get the oil changed in our car and have it given its regular checkup. We also finished the last of our Christmas shopping - mostly at World Market - which was fun and we also stopped off at Trader Joe's which is such a fun place. We bought some delicious cookies and the best apple cider we've ever tasted when we were there. I think we finished off the day at good 'ol Costco - they really need to build one of those in Roseburg - we'd be their #1 customers!
Today we got up early. OK, not really, but still early for us (10:30am). The fog had just burnt off and the sun was shining brightly. I had looked over maps the day before and found a place that I wanted to go looking for a tree. We headed out Highway 138 towards Elkton, but went up the Yellow Creek [logging] Road before we got there. I figured we needed to find an old BLM clearcut where we could cut down some young second-growth. We found a couple possibilites lower down in the valley, but found the perfect tree way up on Dead Horse Ridge. I say it was perfect, because in addition to be perfectly shaped, it was right on the side of the road which at the time was in full, warm sunshine! So we cut it down, tied it to the car and then continued over the ridge and down the other side into Andrew's Creek and eventually into the small community of Yoncalla. It was so much fun, because everything went off without a hitch.
Dohnele was too excited to wait to set the tree up tomorrow so she did that as soon as we got home and it looks beautiful. We're really in the Christmas Spirit now; we've got the tree set up, we've been listening to festive music and have been drinking apple cider all evening. Tomorrow we're boxing up presents so that we can actually use our dining room table for eating.
The only thing that isn't in the Christmas Spirit is the weather... Which is FINE with us! It's been sunny, clear and in the 50s for a long time now and the 10-day forecast is calling for more of the same! It's so nice not to have a deluge of rain and/or snow. ICK! Today for example, we spent the day outside in our t-shirts! However, last night was the first night of the season to drop below freezing (31.7 degrees).
We also found out today that we'll be going up to Portland this coming weekend to meet up with Dohnele's brother, Josh. He'll be passing through Portland on his way to San Francisco for work so we're going to drive up there and take him to Multnomah Falls or out to lunch or dinner or something.
Oh! Before I forget, let's get December birthdays posted!!!
- Aunt Kim and cousin Jeremiah, both on December 8th
- Cousin Meta on December 18th
- cousin Mitchell on December 19th
- Aunt Lindy on December 22nd
Secondly, we have some movie reviews:
- "Tropic Thunder" was pretty funny. If you like Ben Stiller humor, it's probably worth watching. Nothing too special though and very predictable. Not a very good choice for family entertainment. B-
- "Wall-E" was actually really good since the entire movie features a couple of robots that can only say a few words. The rest of the dialogue is just beeps, squeaks and hums. Emma really liked it. B
- "Hancock" was good, but not at all what I expected it to be like. The movie introduces a huge sub-plot way too late in the movie, which was a nice twist, but kind of frustrating. B
- "Meet Dave" was typical Eddie Murphy. Stupid humor that for some reason you can't help but to enjoy and laugh at. Nothing special, but still entertaining. C+
- "Space Chimps" was so dumb that even Emma didn't like it and both Dohnele and I fell asleep. I thought it would be alright since the world of animated movies has come so far. Instead, this movie looks like it was made my the high school AV Club. D
- Emma had a blast talking up a storm in person with “Grama & Papa!” (Grandma and Grandpa)
- Emma loved coloring time and reading with everyone
- Emma gave everyone hugs and kisses.
- Emma got everyone’s name perfectly by the time we left – except for “Mary” which she pronounces “Mmm-Bee!”
- Emma followed “James and Sarah” everywhere! If she wanted them she would call out their names, “James!” “Sarah!” She’d also shout out their names in stores if she didn’t know where they were.
- James would push Emma around the stores when Jonas and I both needed to look at something. James would push the stroller fast and Emma would squeal and say, “Again James!” And when we were without a stroller, James and Emma would play hide-and-seek. You could always her Emma yelling throughout the store…”James!!!” Then he would head in her direction and poke around the corner and Emma would squeal, “Found you!” or “Scared Me!"
- Emma played and read with “Mmm-Bee!” She also loved to follow her to the back room to put the doggies in their beds.
- Emma loved the snow and all the decorated homes and would say “Snow” or “Lights” or “Kissmiss Tweee” whenever she saw one of those things.
