We are getting Married.

Sarah & I are getting married, probably this summer. We've been together 8 years, and we've stalled long enough.

Our wedding will be non-traditional, and a hell of a party.

More to follow.

Coming to you irregularly from the snowpocolypse

Merry Kwahanimas to all (I refuse to acknowledge festivus)!

We're snowed up to the gills here, and hoping that Santa brings us temperatures in the 40s and enough rain to wash the foul white stuff away.

Sadimac and I have trudged over to her mom's for christmas eve, where we will exchange good tidings & presents, eat homemade chicken pot pies, and play munchkin. It will be grand, but due to the snowy hell that nature/a vengeful god has thrust upon us, probably the only such activity we'll have in a timely matter this holiday season.

I wish the same good feelings & fun to you all (although not the weather), and a new year that was better than the last

-Xithor

Slow Burn Maddness

My best friend is in the hospital at the moment and I have no idea why. I got a brief email about it this morning from his wife, and a post to a message board that we all frequent. He can't walk without a great deal of pain, and that's all I know. I'm hoping for the best, imagining the worst, and thinking about him and his family constantly.

The worry is making me basically useless at work. I'm going to go and attempt to get some more things done.

6:04 PM
He's ok folks. He's back home and resting, seems he has a particularly bad muscle pull/tear.

Whew.

The Big Reveal

And now, what you've all bee waiting anxiously for since yesterday (except for my sister, who called and asked due to her lack of desire to wait). The Big Reveal:










It's good, really.













Is the suspense getting to you yet?














Ok, enough fraking around, I can only keep this up for so long.

Sadimac has been offered (and has accepted) a position at BLB01 in the Rose Room, which is no easy feat, as it's borderline impossible to get hired straight into a section position. She's given notice at Old Job, and will start in two weeks time. I'm really proud of her, the process was hard on her, but she weathered it like a champ. It's going to mean a much less stressful life for her (and by extension me), and a safe, functional place to work.

Everyone join me in applauding my beloved, as she moves on to a better thing.

I love you Sadimac.

Podcasts, Good News, and General Excitement

Well, lots going on.

The podcast Sadimac & I recorded with my sister is up, so please, listen and enjoy. We had a lot of fun, and hope to do it again sometime, and other than calling the Guild of Calamitous Intent the Guild of Malicious Intent I feel we had a pretty good showing.

Sadimac has had a lot of excitement of her own. There's some stuff that she won't want me to go into, but let's just say that something really wonderful happened today, and things will be coming up roses very soon. I'll announce the excitement in a couple of days when the details are more public (no, we are not having a baby).

Hopefully we'll catch up on Doctor Who and Battlestar in the next week or two, so I can feel normal again.

Oh, and I will no longer be working regular cashier shifts at BLB01, as I am now finally a full time Generalist. Good bye 5 hour till shift on Saturday afternoon. I will not miss you.

Good times and mildly broke

Things have been busy, but pretty good. Sadimac's been working on about five different things, and I'm still doing well at BLB01. Our only boondoggle is our bank accounts.

Through a combination of some vet bills, my brief unemployment, then part time employment and other factors have left us kind of broke. With the economy as it is, we're far from alone in this, but it still makes me cringe when I have to pay the bills every month.

In the spirit of this, I would like to get a different car. The Volvo, while safe and mostly dependable, is a bit of a gas hog. This clashes both with my environmental concerns, and my desire to spend less money on gas. We're getting about 18 to 22 mpg right now, and that burns to much dinosaur and money for my taste.

Since we're broke, does anybody have a gas efficient four door they want get rid of?

An Interlude

Actual posting today or tomorrow I swear.

I leave you with this video, staring various members of my family

Food

So my sister asked that I name my top five favorite places to eat, in what I assume is some sort of blogging ritual. I'm game, lets do it.

In no particular order:

The Ross Island Grocery and Cafe: A little sandwich & coffee joint right down the road from where Sadimac & I work. It's not fancy or anything, but they've got a good range of sandwich fixings, salads, and a nice atmosphere.

Pho Van: Located on 82nd ave about six blocks from our house, it's probably the best Vietnamese food you'll encounter in Portland. I've eaten my way through a fair portion of the menu, and I'm yet to be disappointed with the flavor, quality, and generous portions. Try the catfish: it's brought to your table whole, cooked and seasoned to perfection, with rice paper pancakes and a wide variety of fixings to make fish salad rolls. Try this: Catfish, green apple, bean sprouts, mint and a touch of chili sauce. Sounds odd, but tastes divine.

Home: Sadimac and I don't really cook as much as we should, but when we do, we do it right. I'm good at the grill, great at quiche, and particuarly skilled with fish. Sadimac can do wonderful things with soups and stews, and makes the best damn pies ever (sorry Mom)

My Sister's House: Every time Sadiamc and I go over there, we get a feast. I think Mr. Kaos might have a pact with dark powers that allow him to make fried potatoes that you wouldn't believe. Also: Gumbo!

Jake's Famous: I used to work right next door, so I've munched my way around most of their staples, and they are by and large excellent. Great Oysters, wonderful service, and the daily blue plate special is downright cheap.

So we went to this wedding...

So we found ourselves at a relative's hastily planned and executed wedding yesterday. The reasons behind the haste are a twisted tale of true love, student visa requirements & some of our nation's more draconian immigration laws, and is something not really for general discussion at this point, but maybe I'll get into that later.

So, despite the incredible rush and pressure, the wedding was great. Low key, small crowd, good food, heartfelt toasts, a healthy dose of champaign, and an overall good feeling. Great time, glad it worked out.

So now, everyone is looking at us. Comments in the lead up about having a double wedding, questions about when we were going to do it, suggestions that we have a 36 hour wedding plan, etc.

The family has wet it's beak, and they thirst for more.

Damnit.

Don't get me wrong, we intend to get married; We reassured that fact to each other while the entire expedited planning process was going on, but neither of us want the pressure. We'll take this at our own pace, thank you.

Besides, we have a house, rings, a cat, shared passions and five plus years of living together. We're good, really. Someday I'm sure we'll get the paper and the legal and the whatever when we're both ready.