A smaller update 06 February 2008
Been keeping busy. The dog keeps getting bigger and smarter. She’s able to jump over the baby gates I’ve been using to pen her in the kitchen. She’s also figured out how to stretch up and reach the counter so she can steal treats off of it while I’m not looking. But she’s a great dog and I love her even when she is being a jerk.
Nick from NYC was out to visit last week. We had a good time and he was able to get all his stuff out of the basement of the old Russell Street house and mail it home. One of the highlights for me was last Friday when I hosted, what my friend Asia termed, Drew’s Brews. Basically I invited a bunch of people over to help me drink the four gallons of porter that Steven and I brewed up. I’m hoping to repeat it again this weekend with a batch of pale ale.
This evening I went to Ignite Portland at the Bagdad Theater with Nick’s friend Ingrid (who has a nice food blog). I was really impressed with the event, the speakers with the except the snake oil peddler who was trying to convince everyone that biodiesel is going to save us from our energy problems were all wonderful. I had a hard time picking favorites (though the history of the stick figure and why Germany loves David Hasselhoff stand out in my mind). I can’t wait for the next one.
I just finished reading Queen of Candesce by Karl Schroeder. I’d read the prequel, Sun of Suns, last New Year’s and loved it. I don’t have the words to describe how amazing these books are. I’m just awestruck at the way he’s able to construct a space opera that’s convincing at every level; from the cloak and dagger intrigue of politics to the physics of constructing a city on the inside of a cylinder floating in air. In many ways it reminds me of the sweeping imagination and vision of the first Matrix movie (the big difference being that this sequel didn’t suck).