Here's the Wintergrass update. We went to Tacoma on Friday because Bob was all hot on seeing Nickel Creek so it was imperative that we get there by magic hour. I'm not sure exactly how it worked but the Wintergrass organizers had it so you could see Nickel Creek once and then this other band and both bands played two shows and Bob managed to trade around so he could see NC twice. I went to the hotel after NC so I missed out on all this.

But regardless, I did see NC once and loved them. My other favorites from the weekend were the Del McCoury Band who I've seen a couple of times but always make me happy. They played on Saturday but the room was completely insane so we ended up going downstairs to the ballroom and caught Bethany Dick who was pretty good and then another band that I loved on first sight Barbed Wire Cutters (see also Korby). We bought their cd and told them to come play in Portland. I went to the hotel early on Saturday too, but keep in mind that I'm not hard core, only normal core.

On Saturday night we went to this fabulous restaurant Over the Moon Cafe. The URL on this site isn't operational at the moment I am typing this, but I wouldn't let this discourage you. This is in our top 10 dinners of all time (since we've been married).

Sunday we went to the Poodle Dog in Fife. Now, the sign says they've served good food since 1933 and all I can think of is that the definition of "good" has changed since then. Or perhaps I can just steer you way from their specialty: Cream Waffle with Fruit. Because it was the worst breakfast I've ever had, that I had to pay for. I mean, unless, good food means a soggy waffle with cold fruit.

Following the Poodle Dog debacle we dealt with more bluegrass and this was when I got to see my beloved Del McCoury -- I love those guys. And then, starving as I was, we took off for home. We ate at the Olympic Club in Centralia which was fun and then home.

I know, I know, where have I been? I've been wanting to write a blog about Wintergrass last weekend and the bands I saw but I need to take some time and find URLS, etc. I also have a few notes about some random things I wanted to tell the world about but I can't find them.

It's been a wee bit busy this week and I haven't exactly been lunging at the computer in the down time. Probably this weekend I'll get something up.

Today we have a guest blog from Auntie Janet:

"Barry gets home today too, a day early. He has been gone for nine days to Montana. Hope the weather will allow the plane to land. He missed Joe's birthday party since the airline had to overfly the weather conditions, on to Redding. Passengers would have had to put themselves up overnight there or go back to Portland and put themselves up for the night there, and then, in either case, the airlines would graciously try to fly them to Eureka again the next day.

"So he rented a car with 4 other people and drove to Eureka. One couple was from Iowa on their first trip out to see their kids, one was an older woman who did not drive and one was a young lady who didn't drive since she had just been in an accident and was afraid to. So here was this gray haired, one-armed old man in a hat driving all these people to Eureka. We tried to get him to get off in Willow Creek and come up with Joe's friends from there for the party, but he had put the car in his name, and felt responsible for all these people who could not get to Eureka without him Isn't he a prince?"

The past two nights I've made awesome dinners. Last night was the PamStandby Bean Soup. When we were in San Fran and at David's Deli, the menu had about 300 things on it and I said if I had a restaurant I'd have a simple menu with only 3 things on it and Bob said: let me guess, hummus, little cut up raw vegetables and bean soup. And yeah, that's pretty much it. I also made these Cooks Illustrated cream biscuits which turned out great. Tonight I made a thing from Sunset magazine where you basically make a pizza topping: marinara, onion, peppers, mushrooms, sausage and then dump them in a casserole, cover with mozzarella and Pillbury Bread Sticks. Then you bake. It tasted fabulous. I also made something from the Oregonian -- fresh pineapple bread with chopped macadamia nuts. Another big hit. I'm stuft.

Yesterday when I was driving to work -- there was a car in front of me on Mill Plain at the light with its hazards on and the driver looked slumped over from behind. When I went to pull around I looked, and sure enough the driver was slumped over the wheel. Can I tell you that I am not a good samaratin and normally would have just kept driving and hoped someone else stopped. But for whatever reason, I go into full panic mode, pull over and in my mind I'm clicking off options -- I don't have a cell so I can't call 911. Maybe this driver has a cell and I can call. But the car is decrepit and maybe she's locked in. Maybe I can flag down another driver to call 911. But when I get out of the car and turn around, this woman is sitting up in the car looking at me -- along with all the other folks stopped at the light. I start mouthing the words at her "are you okay?" thinking maybe she had a seizure or something. Apparently she was slumped over because she was aggravated with her nonworking car, and realizing what I thought and embarassed, she starts laughing. Which would be fine but she completely refused to acknowledge me -- I mean, wouldn't a normal person wave and say "I'm okay, thanks" or something? Not this loser. I was furious.

Today I've been doing all sorts of chores and errands and projects. Bob has been telling me about this band Nickelcreek forever but I never followed up until today. Wow, they are fantastic. And look at their pictures -- they're young and beautiful too. We're going to see them this Friday at Wintergrass in Tacoma.

I've been fighting with this cold-thing. I felt rotten on Saturday when we were looking at cars and we were on the eastside the this horrible wind was whipping around my head. And Sunday I felt a bit sketchy. But Monday I thought I felt okay and then Tuesday I felt like hell on wheels and left work early. I wanted to read but I was too tired but I didn't want to take a nap because I knew if I slept at 4pm I would never fall asleep at bed time. Luckily, I found a great cure. I made a gigantic bowl of soup and I did a Buffy binge. Buffy's on FX at 6 and 7pm and then the regular Buffy was on at 8pm. Went to bed at 9pm.

Woke up this morning feeling fabulous.

This weekend we actually set foot on a car lot (actually several). We've been talking about replacing one of our vehicles for years now but talking is as far as we got. I've been driving a Honda CRX since November of 1986. How many times have I already posted that on this blog? My current CRX is an 89 which I have been driving since May 90. I am financially anxious and ultra-conservative. I don't care how much they'll loan me. I want to take out the tiniest loan possible. Where did this financial paranoia come from? And is it really a problem that a person doesn't want to borrow tons of money?

The car shopping wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had built it up into such an ultra-nightmare that almost anything could have happened and it's wouldn't have been worse. But car salesmen are their own species. The first guy they put on us was young enough -- I could have given birth to him. We must have asked too many questions because they graduated us to the next guy who had more info, but definitely wanted to sell a car. It was like I got to look inside and test drive one and they were ready to make a deal. I wanted to look inside EVERY Camry on the lot. Oh, but they have to go in and get the key and you can't get the mileage w/o the key. Isn't this totally unorganized? But I did drive one and got a good look at a bunch. And I was very clear about not giving out my phone number. I'm not completely insane.

At the next lot I looked at a bunch of Accords. They were almost all 5-speed and I prefer an automatic. They were also the ugliest colors. There were a couple of decent Camrys on this lot too. For the third act we stopped at the airport and went to the Hertz lot and this introduced a whole new dimension to our search because the cars were a bit newer and a couple thousand $$ more than the top end of our budget. Now I don't know what to do or what I want and everyone is kind enough to put doubts in my mind like buying a used car is the curse of the new millenium. I will be driving this CRX FOREVER.

I think I got the technical snafus fixed. What a pain for the technologically impaired.

This wasn't the best week, but not the worst either.

I found this URL for these phone basher people which I thought was pretty damn funny.

One of the U.S. skating champions in the Olympics, Naomi Lang is Karuk Indian. That's pretty cool.

okay -- what's going on? I can't get the new post to show up and the archives seem to be blocked in blogsnob hell -- which didnt' work for me and now I can't get out of? This is what it's like for the technically challenged.

Everything smells like hot plastic. Yoda must be ready for bed. I was trying to find something interesting to link to but it all looked lame. Who cares about the SuperBowl? I called my Mom and Dad at around 3:20pm yesterday and Mom said, "We're watching the SuperBowl" and I'm like, "Oh. Is that on? I don't want to tear you away," and Mom's like "oh no." So we visit and then she gives the phone to Dad who says, "When is this damn football game going to start?" I have no idea. I just saw the part when Bono was running around and all the pretty, young extras shipped in to stand around the stage lifted their fists to the air. I love U2 so it was all perfect to me.

This has been an interesting week -- um, I'm not going to go into it right now. Yesterday I finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. While I was reading it, I wasn't sure how much I liked it -- I mean, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. But by the time I was finished I was completely won over. This is an impressive piece of writing. I still have lots of books left in my Christmas pile and haven't picked my next one yet. I need to finish February's Atlantic Monthly because March is probably going to drop through the slot this week. And I finally figured out how to get Sarah's manuscript transferred to the laptop so I can read it comfortably. I asked her to email it to me, thinking this saved postage and paper but it never occurred to me how uncomfortable it is to read a novel while sitting in front of your computer.