The Peoples' Sandwich

What's not to love about a communist sandwich shop? I'm not someone to get nostalgic about the glory days of the cold war, but this place serves up 'dictater chips' with every order (kettle style potato chips made in house no less). That's got to be worth something. The Peoples' Sandwich located on the corner of 1st and Couch in NW Portland is just what it says, a sandwich shop. I've heard about it for a while now but never made the 3 block walk over to check it out. I had it in my head that it was a lot farther away.

Very cool place. The menu was limited, but everything on it looked fantastic. I had the Hammer & Pickle, a cuban sandwich with pork loin, mustard and a dill pickle. My favorite sandwich name ever is now The Peoples' Sandwich. Here's the description: Soylent Green [Pan-Fried Ota Tofu Covered in Pesto], Sweet and Spicy Peppadew Peppers and Filberts on a French Roll. Vegan. I don't think it's OK to claim a sandwich made with Soylent Green is Vegan though...hmm.

Happenings

David Giuntolo is 3rd from the left in the jeans and Grey jacket

There's been some excitement outside of the office the last few days. The new NBC show Grimm has been setting up an exterior shoot on NW 2nd Ave between Couch and Davis in Portland, OR. They've had parking marked off for 'Film Crew' for the last few days while they got the storefronts made over. Yesterday the crew was there shooting. We had a confirmed David Giuntoli sighting (He's playing Nick Burckhardt). He was performing a scene where he walks out of a storefront then down the sidewalk talking on a cell phone. We did hear the word "dispatch" so take that for what it's worth.

All Fogged In

We've been getting some great fog the last few days. Great Fall weather!

What Will This Do?

Just a test to find out if this posting from email thing is working. I think it is.This makes me happy.

Flash Fiction Challenge

From the flash fiction challenge at Terrible Minds. This weeks challenge was to use 3 of the following 5 words in a story of 100 words. Enzyme, Ivy, Bishop, Blister, and Lollipop.

And here we go....

Bishop leaned on his desk, unwrapped the lollipop he'd taken from his son's Halloween candy. Rolling the candy around his mouth he picked up his pencil and went back to the statements he was working on. From the page to the monitor and back he worked, looking for a place to make $50,000 disappear. He felt a sore rising on his cheek. blisters forming on his fingers where they had touched the candy. His lips, hot and swollen. His throat closing. He got up, stumbled to the mirror. His last thought; wonderment at how Bernard had found out.

...Ends

Thanks Chuck, that was fun.

Congratulations Darnell

I wanted to give a quick shout out to my cousin-in-law Darnell on getting his Handling Screwdrivers post picked up by the Lee Valley Tools website. You can check out his article here. For more from Darnell, check out his blog http://thewayiwood.blogspot.com/. Really fantastic stuff.

Once again, Congratulations Darnell!!

I Am Judged!

Good look from Cam, no?

Promotional Banner For My Next Band

Thanks to Lisa and Tim for the inspiration for this. I'm gonna print up a bunch of these and paper the neighborhood with them.Which one do you like better?

Remember, two wrongs make a Wronger.

My Four Seasons #2: Hockey (and to a lesser extent Basketball)

This begins with the Winter Classic. A recent phoenomon that takes a regular season NHL hockey game and moves it outside. This is an attempt to make the rest of us feel nostalgic for those good old days when we all went out and played shinny on the pond. I never played on a frozen pond, or frozen water for that matter, but I do get a little teary eyed seeing the sun gleam off the outdoor surface with the nostalgic background music.

Youth hockey kicks off in August with evaluations, and practices. The actual season begins in October, but with the Thanksgiving break and then Christmas and New Years the youth hockey season seems to really get into gear in January. The run up to the playoffs begin in February and by the end of February it's time for the end of year tournament. Busy weekends, running from rink to rink for team practices, skills clinics and games. Loads of opportunities to avoid house work. Can't work around the house if you're taking your kid to the ice rink.

Youth hockey ends and the NHL playoffs begin in March. With 8 best of 7 game series going on at the same time it really is March madness. The Divisional rounds lead to the Conference Finals and then the Stanley Cup Finals in June. It's still kind of strange to see hockey being played in June, but I love it.

My Four Seasons: #1 Football

I've lived in the Portland Metro area for the last 30+ years and this has been the wettest winter in memory. Now that summer is starting to poke it's head around the corner I'd like to use the next few posts to take you through my four seasons. My year starts in the fall and if you think that's because of the beginning of the school year I'd bet you'd be right.

Football Season

This starts with the NFL's Hall Of Fame Game which is usually held the last weekend in July. The new class is inducted into the hall on Saturday and the game is played on Sunday. Football season takes me through the turning of the leaves and the shortening of the days. 

Watching NFL pre-season games through August, then the start of high school and college seasons in September. I even got to spend the last three years watching Cam play youth football, complete with 2 hour practices every weekday in August. 

The season can be marked by discrete events. 

Monday night football celebrates Halloween is a favorite. It's nice to see someone besides Raider fan in costume at the game. 

The Civil War game between Oregon State University and The University of Oregon establishes bragging rights for the rest of the year. 

High School playoffs start in November and gives parents across the state a chance to take a child's game too seriously. I'm not looking down at them any more. It turns out I'm one of them. 

Thanksgiving in the USA provides us with an opportunity to watch the Detroit Lions play. I'm convinced that this is a public service provided by the NFL to keep us safe while in a turkey induced coma. 

Bowl Season in college football begins in the middle of December. The best of the rest play in bowls like the New Orleans Bowl, Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, the Hawaii Bowl, and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl to name but a few. It used to be that the big boys played their bowl games on New Years day, but that date keeps getting pushed off into the new year. The 2012 Allstate BCS National Championship Game will be played on January 9th.

In the NFL the playoffs get into gear in January with Wildcard weekend, the Divisional playoffs, and the Conference finals all leading up to The Super Bowl.