"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

I'm at the bar at Rose City at PDX, loving the free wifi (every airport should do that; they'd see a bump in food/drink sales as a result) and I was just enjoying the scenery across the bar. Portland is a hipster capital, and I have to admit I do love that style on the women.

My "vacation," which has been roughly the past week and will run through the 1st, has been nice. I had big dreams of hitting the Y a lot, getting my body prepped for a higher level in 2007, but I'm more like my mom than I admit -- genetics is a real thing -- and so we spent most days perched across from one another at her high-tables working on our laptops, eating pizza and drinking beer into the night. I wish I had a picture. It was nice, but also sort of the antithesis of getting to the gym and hitting the stationary cycle.

On the upside, I did some good work on Chapter Three's first non-client project -- alpha launch coming in early Jan -- and I also started my open-source community service effort for 2007, the Drupal Dojo:

Drupal Dojo

It's basically a place for up-and-coming developers to rub elbows with more experienced types in a less intimidating setting, to help be a middle-ground in the burgeoning Drupal economy. I launched it about 24 hours ago and already we have more than 100 members. Oh boy.

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It's Over, Hipsters

A joke with two punchlines via Frank, who heard it from a 17-year-old on Saint Louis:

How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Well... it's an obscure number. You probably wouldn't know it...

Or

Well, it used to be 8 but now it's 7; it was much better before.

The backlash is on. I enjoy my Levis 527s and my screen-printed hoodie, but all y'all took it too far. I just hope this doesn't mean we're in for a resurgence of Jock Jams.

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Clifhanging Cocksuckers

GD it, these bastards sure know how to leave an unresolved ending. I just caught up on the last few episodes, and the next isn't for a month with a pretty solid "to be continued" close.

Overall I dig the mystical developments more than the romantic. Not that there's anything wrong with romance, but they way they're playing this just sheds negative light on all parties. It's not very much fun, and it makes me not like some of my favorite characters as much.

Also, I finished up season four of The Wire, which is really just an incredible piece of artwork. If you have not checked it out, do yourself a favor and Netflix, on-demand, bittorrent or blockbuster that shit. They ended that one without much conclusion too, and apparently will wrap it all up in one last season next year. Sigh.

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Holy Infant (Shallots) Sauteed with Irish Butter

Great Success! Me and Brie went in together on a travel voucher to sent mom back to France sometime -- because if we get her the ticket she has to go -- and I cooked up a pretty fine meal (bacon-wrapped steaks, shallot/shitake sautee, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus and spinach ceasar salad) and dined it up with the Grams and everything. It was a lovely adult night.

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