A little bit cooler.

Yesterday, the high temperature in Portland got to around 99, so that's a little cooler than Monday through Wednesday. Today, the forecast is in the low 90s. That still sounds hot, but is around 15 degrees cooler than it was on Wednesday.

I have Multimedia duty at PVC tomorrow; at least the media room has pretty good cooling. On Sunday, Joy and I are going to a wedding for Joy's boss' daughter. Other than these tasks, the weekend looks to be pretty relaxed.

James is moving out into his own place this weekend. It will be good for him to live on his own; it will give him a chance to learn from his mistakes.

I'm ready for some cooler weather

We've had several record breaking temperature days in a row and it isn't going to get much better before Friday. When it's over 100, fans don't help much in cooling. I think we're going to get a window air conditioner, at least for our bedroom!

John got back from a visit with his cousin in California yesterday. Now, he needs to start getting back into school mode.

Hot weather in Portland

It was a hot weekend here in Portland. On Saturday, to escape the heat, Joy & I went to the Oregon coast with our friend Les & Keri. On the way over there, we had a picnic lunch at H. B. Van Duzer Forest Wayside. It was relaxing, eating our meal under a shady tree.

It was cool and foggy by the time we reached the beaches. The temperature got down to the 50s; with the wind, it felt very cold. We visited Depoe Bay and enjoyed a blowhole. We saw a bunch of harbor seals near the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We stopped at the Chinook Winds Casino on the way home to eat at their buffet.

Yesterday, Joy and I went to the Academy Theater to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, an entertaining and funny movie.

The weather is supposed to get even hotter today through Wednesday. I'm glad that I have an indoor job!

July is drawing to an end.

It's already July 23. Only one more week and then it'll be August. The summer is flying by, as usual.

The weather is forecast to get up to around 100 here this weekend. Compared to Vegas, that is nothing, but it will be more humid. We'll probably take a trip up to the mountains or the beach to escape the heat.

A good Vegas Vacation

Joy and I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday evening. While there, we spent several days in Vegas itself. We visited Red Rock National Conservation Area, Zion National Park, Death Valley National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park. We also did a Hoover Dam tour along with an excursion on the stern-wheeler Desert Princess on Lake Mead.

We stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel, eating our anniversary dinner at sunset on the top of the tower. We particularly enjoyed the Bellagio Fountains, the Sirens of TI, and the Fremont Street Experience, all free. We went into most of the major casinos.

The weather was very hot. Even in the shade of the parking garages, our car would frequently be over 110 after dark.

Now, it's back to work time. Our vacations for the year are pretty much gone! :-(

The day before our Las Vegas vacation!

Tomorrow afternoon, Joy and I fly out to Las Vegas for our anniversary vacation. I can't wait!

We'd planned to go visit Death Valley on Saturday, but I'm thinking that we might do that next Thursday instead, so Joy can sleep in late on Saturday. She's been burning the midnight oil getting ready for the trip, and will probably sleep in until noon, if she's able.

I've reconnected with several more old CUC classmates using Facebook. It is fun to rebuild the old friendships.

Wednesday is here

The week is half over. Joy and I are getting excited about our Las Vegas vacation. Tomorrow evening, our son, John, is flying to Oakland to spend a couple of weeks with his cousin. Then, on Friday afternoon, Joy and I fly to Vegas. Yeah, Baby!

On our vacation, we might visit Sedona and see some of the scenery around that town. We'll decide about that on the trip.

Monday after July 4th Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend. On the 4th, we went to Sellwood Park with a bunch of our friends and enjoyed a picnic. We didn't stay for the fireworks, not eager to face the traffic afterwords.

We're starting to pack and prepare for our anniversary vacation next week in Las Vegas. We fly out on Friday evening. We'll have a mix of day trips and relaxing, sightseeing days around Vegas.

We've made reservations for a sunset dinner at the Top of the World restaurant in the Stratosphere Tower. We'll then head upstairs to the Romance Lounge to cap off our 2nd anniversary with some dancing.

We're planning to take a horseback ride through Red Rock Canyon on one of the days.

July is here

The summer weather has started early for Oregon. We usually can't count on hot weather until after the 4th of July, but it's supposed to be in the 90s through Saturday. We're going to Sellwood Park with some friends. They have lots of nice shady trees, so it shouldn't be too hot. We probably won't stay until the fireworks are set off.

I'm glad to have a three day weekend off. We need to rest up from our vacation and also start getting packed for our trip to Las Vegas next Friday. That vacation will be much more relaxing, since we won't be unloading and loading a car full of luggage every other day, plus we'll have a couple of days between our day trips for sightseeing.

For that vacation, one of our day trips we're planning is to Death Valley. I looked at the long range forecast for Death Valley on July 11 and the low is supposed to be 88 with a high of 117. That's one hot birthday; we won't need any candles! We'll definitely have to get there 1st thing in the morning and get out of at least the lower portion very early, say by 9 am. Otherwise, we'll roast, coming from Oregon! I imagine that we'll high tail it back to one of the pools at the Stratosphere and just stay there for some time to cool off.

I posted some pictures from our California vacation on Picasa Web. We'll probably need to upgrade our Picasa storage after our trip to Vegas. We'll probably have more pictures of Vegas, Zion, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, etc., then we have from California!

Last day of June

I haven't posted in a while. We went on our vacation to southern California. It was fun, but very busy. It's almost nice to be back at work so we can rest up!

On Sunday, we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and rode lots of roller coasters. Monday, we visited Universal Studios Hollywood.

We spent Tuesday through Thursday at the Disneyland Resort. At Disneyland, we got stuck on a boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for over half an hour. We were just before the last conveyor taking us up to entrance. We heard the Yo Ho--A Pirate's Life for Me song way too many times. After they finally got the ride going again, they gave us a Fastpass that we used to skip a 90 minute wait to get on Splash Mountain.

Friday, we drove down to San Diego, spending the day at SeaWorld. Saturday was at the San Diego Zoo.

On Sunday, we drove up to Joy's sister's home, near San Francisco. Sunday afternoon, we visited Muir Woods National Monument, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Lombard Street.

We drove home yesterday, arriving at about 5 pm.

The last workday before vacation

I'm posting this from my phone to make sure that I'll be able to post to my blog while we're on vacation.

We leave early tomorrow morning on the long drive south on Interstate 5. By this time tomorrow, we should be getting close to Roseburg. We'll be spending the first couple of nights in a motel in Sylmar, about half way between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios Hollywood, our first two destinations.

Ready for vacation!

It's my last day working in the office until after vacation on Tuesday, June 30. I've looked at the extended weather forecast for Sunday through Thursday for southern California and it is supposed to be in the low to mid 80s most of the time, which should be ideal for playing at the amusement parks--warm enough that getting wet on the water rides will feel good, but not be too hot. Of course, we'll have to wear lots of sunscreen!

James wants to spend an afternoon in San Francisco bay area on the way back; that will mean an early [like 4 am] departure from San Diego on Sunday, June 28. That way, we'd get to Julie's [Joy's sister] in the early afternoon and could spend the afternoon and evening sight seeing. He wants to see Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods. James got a camera for an early birthday present and wants to be able to take some scenic pictures with it.

A fun family re-union

My nephew Derek was visiting from Colorado; he's attending the Air Force Academy. We got together in Tillamook at my Aunt's house. We ate too much food, went to the beach, went to see Munson Creek Falls, played baseball and croquet --and ate even more good food.

It was fun to have a large family event. Hopefully, these can occur more frequently. Last week, my brother Jimmy and his wife Joyce celebrated their 25th anniversary. Congratulations, Jimmy & Joyce!

Using Facebook, I'm reconnecting with some old classmates and friends from Columbia Union College and Maryland. It's been nice to get back in touch with long-lost pals. Technology is good for some things!

I work 5 days this week, then we're off to California for vacation!

Another Friday

It's Friday, June 12. I will only have one more Friday in the office until July 24, with vacations and holidays taken out. Yesterday at work, they had a Hawaiian luau with a contest for the best Hawaiian shirts. I wore one that I actually bought in Hawaii, but it didn't win the prize.

I have multimedia duty at PVC tomorrow. After that, we're driving over to my Aunt's home in Tillamook to spend time with family, including my nephew Derek, who is visiting from back east.

John is going to drive over there, his longest trip behind the wheel so far--until next weekend when we're going on our Southern California vacation.

A Good Graduation Weekend

On Friday evening, we went to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate Joy's birthday--39 and holding!

Most of the rest of the weekend was dedicated to various PAA Graduation related events. Friday was Consecration, Saturday was Class Night, and Sunday was the actual commencement.

Selita looked nice. She has a new, shorter haircut.

Sunday, after commencement, we went to a graduation party for our friend Ian.

I'm already counting down the days until our Southern California vacation starts. Eleven days from right now, we'll be on the road heading south!

Graduation Weekend at PAA

My youngest daughter, Selita, will be graduating from PAA on Sunday. There are events all weekend, so it will be busy.

Knowing that we have only one child left in high school makes me feel old, in some ways, but in others, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was getting my high school diploma.

Today is my wife Joy's birthday. We're going to take her out for dinner this evening before going to PAA for the consecration.

We had a pretty big wind and thunder storm for Oregon last evening. It made me think there might be a tornado somewhere around, but I didn't see any funnel clouds. I guess that there were some funnels seen down in Salem, along with golf ball sized hail.

June is here

Joy and I had an absolutely awesome weekend. On Saturday, we drove down to see the Schreiner's Iris Gardens. The flowers were beautiful and colorful in the sunshine. After seeing the gardens, we drove over to Drift Creek Falls, in the coast range, a few miles east of Lincoln City. The waterfall is about 75 feet tall. There's a walking suspension bridge over the gorge into which the falls pour; so from the swaying bridge, you can look down about one hundred feet at the stream below.

Yesterday, we went out to do some shopping for our upcoming vacations. Joy got a very sexy swimsuit to wear in the pools and at the beach. For her birthday, she got her ears pierced at the Piercing Pagoda--she's been wanting to do that for some time and this was a good opportunity. After shopping, we went to eat at Claim Jumper; it was the first time that I've been there. The food and service were great!

Joy and I both enjoyed our scenarios from the 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex book! :-)

Now, it's back to work, but the weather is supposed to pretty nice all week.

The last Friday in May

After talking with Joy last evening, she's not wanting to do the strenuous hiking of Silver Falls, so we'll probably go to Drift Creek Falls, instead. Drift Creek has a suspension bridge over the creek. I'm looking forward to taking some sexy pictures of my beautiful wife in the natural setting. I got her a set of Ben Wa balls to play with in the car on the way--and she'll have a couple of more hours to play! :-)

Over the weekend, we're planning on performing our first seductions using our new book, 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex. It's kind of interesting, because the scenarios are sealed, so Joy's seduction of me tomorrow evening will be a total surprise to me, as will mine for her on Sunday. Our sex life has been awesome, and we're using this to make it even more awesome.

We're sharing some of the sex scenarios with Les & Keri to help add some zing to their sex life, too. There's another similar book in the series, 101 Nights of Grrreat Romance, that we're thinking of giving them for an anniversary present--along with a pair of handcuffs and a blindfold for them to play with in bed.

We had a good exercise last evening with Les & Keri. Les is going to show me some things to do with the weights to help me improve my muscle tone. I guess we're helping each other!

May is winding down.

It's supposed to be in the mid 80s today, lovely weather. Yesterday, I took a walk with my boss in the sunshine.

I've posted some pictures on Picasa Web of Central Oregon and Southern Oregon, places we went on our mini-vacation last weekend.

Tomorrow evening, Joy and I are going up to Vernonia to see our nephew acting in a school play.

On Saturday, we are going to see the iris flowers at Schriener's. Following that, we're going over to Silver Falls State Park to play and take some waterfall pictures. On Sunday, we're going shopping for a new sexier swimsuit for Joy to wear for our vacations over the next couple of months. It should be a fun weekend! :-)

I'm already getting anxious to head out on the road for our vacations!

A Great Memorial Day weekend

On Saturday afternoon, Joy and I went on a jet boat trip on the Rogue River with our friend Les and Keri. It was a fun trip--though we got very wet with the chilly water. We ate dinner on a deck overlooking the river at the Galice Resort Restaurant. We saw lots of herons, osprey, ducks and geese, along with a couple of beaver and a bald eagle.

Sunday, we drove along the Rogue River heading towards to Crater Lake. We stopped to see a fish hatchery, the natural bridge, and the Rogue River Gorge. At Crater Lake, there was still lots of snow around the lodge. We could only drive to Discovery Point on the Rim Drive (the rest of the Rim Drive won't open for a couple of weeks). The deep blue water against the white snow was beautiful. From Crater Lake, we drove up to Bend and spent the night there.

Yesterday, we drove up Pilot Butte State Park and enjoyed the panoramic view of the Oregon Cascades, with the white peaks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, the Three Sisters, etc. vivid against the blue sky. We then went to Smith Rock State Park and had a picnic lunch overlooking the Crooked River with the canyon walls beyond. We stopped to see the Crooked River High Bridge and then drove back through Government Camp, arriving home at about 7 pm.

We took lots of pictures. I'll get them uploaded to Picasa web as soon as I get them organized and cleaned up.

I finally got my G1 phone updated with Android 1.5 (Cupcake) this morning. I was too impatient to wait for the OTA update, so I did it manually. It is nice to have the screen rotate from landscape to portrait automatically, along with the onscreen keyboard. I doubt that I'll use the video recorder very often.