Movies

Casino Royale ♣♣
Only the second Bond movie I have seen, and I will give this one credit for being better than the older one. I was ready for it to be over at least 45 minutes before it was, and giggled when they showed the requisite swimsuit shots. The torture scene was creative.

Children of Men ♣♣½
Interesting premise. I always like Michael Caine.

Pursuit of Happyness ♣♣¾
Will Smith's character made me tired. Stop running around and take a nap!

Shrek III ♣♣½
Cute, often funny, but no longer original. I hope they stop while they are ahead.

*We apologize for the overuse of the movie review post, but we have discovered the miracle of the DVD vending machine in front of our grocery story. Also it is a really easy post to do.

Bikes, Bums, and Babies

We biked 25 miles today, from our house to the University of Portland and back again. We also biked 15 miles around town last monday, and then to and from school friday. As it turns out, we live at the top of a hill, and no matter how hard I might wish it, there is no other way to get back home than to go up at some point. It is nice overall though. There are all kinds of places in Portland that I probably would never see otherwise, and unlike whizzing by in a car, we catch funny things. We knew before we moved here that everyone in Portland with a home of their own is allowed to have three chickens, but we finally saw someone out walking one recently while riding by. That was interesting. We also managed to see people playing in a public city fountain that doubles as a water park, and the setting up of the coming Rose Festival. These are all things that would escape us otherwise. However, my sore bum isn't sure all the sightseeing is really worth it.

Anyway, we are doing this to find paths to all the places we will both have to be over the coming year. We will have to use our bikes as much as we can to compensate for our one car and the many, many places that we have agreed to both be over the next few months. They are not near each other, and our timing overlaps. We are good planners like that.

So that is really all that we have been up to. Sergio starts summer class tomorrow, and then work on Friday. I continue at Portland State for the next two and half weeks and then start at Lewis and Clark. At that point, Sergio and I are not likely to see each other without advanced planning until next May. I think it will be Eliot who suffers the most.

Here are some new pictures I got in the mail on Saturday.

"You there, push my cart and obey my orders..."
















"...for I have these two magnificent teeth, a winning smile,..."















"...and surprisingly little body fat for a 10 month old. Seriously, check out these calves."

What Happens When I Finally Talk

I had a group presentation today in linguistics and after it was over I went straight to women's history. I don't know if I was feeling confident or what, but I voluntarily raised my hand to speak about our latest book about a 16th century lesbian nun. I don't remember everything I said, but I do know that it involved the word penis being used in front of my Oxford educated professor and fellow classmates. Maybe more than once.

Movie Reviews with Comments

Jeremiah Johnson ♣♣♣½
We started watching this movie in the middle about four times, and we always stopped so that we could rent it and see it from the beginning. However, Sergio watched it today while I was at work. This is not the first time he has done this. Drives me nuts. (To be fair, I take the car and he is stuck at home all weekend)

Clerks ♣♣
I think we might have watched this a few years too late. Love Kevin Smith, though.

The Departed ♣♣½
I give it the half begrudgingly. I felt like I had wasted some of my life when it was over, but I am aware that it was probably a good movie overall. Sergio is more willing to give it the half.

The Good Shepherd ♣♣♣
Good movie, but if you are looking for giggles, pick something else up.

Her Super Sweet Seventh

I don't know how it happened, but just yesterday I was standing in the back yard in Memphis about to go to my high school graduation and she almost fit into one of my green fingernailed hands (I was cool), and today she turned seven and told me her birthday presents were "sweet" in the way that a 16 year old on MTV might. I can't wait to see my brother when she is actually sixteen.

And Sergio Without His Party Dress

Sergio doesn't relax well. Two days after he finished finals he agreed to climb Mount St. Helens. Since I wasn't there I can't fill you in on many details, but I know they finished and that it was beautiful. I also learned that it is a tradition to climb St. Helens on Mother's Day in a dress, so everyone but Sergio did so (we didn't have any appropriate dresses lying around). One of his fellow climbers also made the trek with a sign that many people took their picture with. See below.

Happy Mother's Day

To the women who started us down the right roads early on.




































Love,
the pyromaniac and the alcoholic

Only Two More to Go!

In 30 minutes I will pick Sergio up from his last final, and then we will go watch pretty much the entire law school student body drink until they think they look good dancing. It should be a good time. And Sergio's first year will be officially over. Woohoo!


Future Law and Business Leaders of America. They inspire confidence don't they?

Two Quick Things

Because we are nearly 25 years old and have never owned our own home, we sometimes feel the need to do funny things. Like build our own box to house our own oompost pile. I think it fills a hole in our poor apartment dwelling souls that would normally be filled with things like painting walls or hanging curtains. Last weekend we bought some supplies and then sawed and hammered away on our back patio (a great way to pay back the upstairs neighbors for their second jobs as rap music producers, and no I am not joking). We came up with this.



Why a compost pile? Because it is good for the environment, our garbage disposal, and our three herb plants.

Also, we got caught in a storm the other day. We were...giddy seems accurate. It was the first time we have heard thunder in 9 months. I wanted it to last the whole afternoon and go home and sleep on the couch. It did not last, but it was fun for the whole ten minutes it was around. The not so great side of storms in Portland is the hail. It hails all the time here. Evidence...

Movie Reviews

Hot Fuzz ♣♣♣½ (maybe a little long, though)

Blades of Glory ♣♣♣

Inside Man ♣♣½ (only Sergio)

Rocky Balboa ♣♣♣½