I don’t have any room to complain about anything. Somewhere in the world, there’s always going to be someone who has it better than me and a lot more people who have it worse off than me. I really don’t have anything to write about once I’ve put this into context. For example:

Gripe: My Camry Hybrid is in the shop to have body damage repaired caused by an elderly man who didn’t see me park next to him. Completely his fault and his insurance is paying for it.
Reaction: You’re lucky you have a car. You’re lucky the old man that hit you wasn’t uninsured.

Gripe: I have to deal with traffic coming home from work. Why can’t they put more lanes in?
Reaction: Hey fucker, at least you can afford to drive. Some of us walk, bike or take the bus a lot further than you. It takes us a hell of a lot longer to get home.

Gripe: The weather is terrible! Why can’t we have a normal Spring!
Reaction: In some parts of the world, people are dying because of the heat, hurricanes, tornadoes and drought.

Modestly,
Gregsta’

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TEENA!

I concocted the most Paula Deen inspired dessert I’ll ever make again. A 3 layer traditional Whitecake with Buttercream icing. There was at least 12 sticks of butter used in the making of that thing. I had one little piece of it and I about fell into a food coma. I think I may have created what amounts to the highest saturated-fat-per-slice cake known to man.

Heading out soon for brunch. The cat is sitting behind my chair crying for attention. There’s a news paper waiting to be picked up in the driveway. Life is, well, normal as ever.

Gregsta’

I wish my job were exciting enough to talk about here.

Only on a rare occasion do things happen that the average person could relate to. Seeing as how I don’t wish to alienate my audience of 5 people, I must wait until I have something non-geek to write about.

Gregsta’

I win! I win!

Mad apologies to Gooch and Jenn for missing them at Putters the other night due to a major mis-communication and assumption on my part. I am a Giant Douche.

Gregsta’

I love technology. Kind of like how we love pizza. It tastes and smells so good at first. Those first few bites are heaven. Only after you’ve consumed everything it has to offer, you feel awful – sick and unnecessarily full. Your world comes crashing down all around you. All you want now is that simple salad that would have sufficed just fine… but you gave it away…

Case in Point: My new AT&T; Tilt. Neat phone, sexy features – dead after 4 days.

It’s the Mayfly of cell phones…

Fortunately, I keep my trusty Nokia 3100 close at hand. It may not sport my calendar, contacts, email and qwerty keyboard (to name a few lackings), but it’s reliable. Kind of like a 1980’s Toyota Corolla – Reliable, gutless and cheap.

Off to work. Work work work. Then dinner. Then sleep Then work. Work work work. Ugh.

Real,
Gregsta’

When the weather gets nice, a little timing and some ingenuity will lead to some of the best vacationing this side of the Rockies. Peep this:

Yesterday, Bets’ and I embarked to the Canon Beach – a great “boutique” coastal spot on the Northern Oregon coast. The weather in Portland hit a little over 90 degrees (quite hot), where the coast was a cool and perfect 74 degrees. We spent a mere $35 on the whole 8 hour excursion. It was by far the best “mini-vacation” I’ve had in a long time. Here’ s the run down:

Timing: Traveling during non-peak haul-ass-to-the-beach times is ideal. This meant leaving Portland around 12:00pm and leaving the coast to come home around 6:00, getting us back into town around 7:30. Our travel times overlapped everyone else’s lunch and dinner times. Sweet.

Travel: Having a Hybrid does save money. A lot of money. They like long drives at fast speeds. Don’t use the A/C or floor the accelerator too much and you’ve got a recipe for a cheap trip. The 200 mile round trip consumed a quarter tank (4 gallons) of gas. At current prices, that’s about $15 in gas. Had we been traveling in our truck, we would have spent closer to $30 in gas.

Accommodations: Or should I say lack there of? A 70 degree day in a town with tons of public services in a small radius means no greenbacks for accommodations. The beach served as a perfect place to nap, walk and play.

Food: We ate pizza-by-the slice and ice cream, about $20 for the two of us. Yum! Who needs gourmet sit-down when you have Pizza a Fetta – only the best pizzeria in Cannon Beach! (and a delicacy I don’t often indulge in) They have a window off to the side where the schlep fresh slices and sodas. The ice-cream place across the street had very tasty (and cheap!) ice cream.

Off to breakfast!
Gregsta’

Dinner party was a hit last night. Mad props to everyone who made it out.

The heat inspired me to fix a ceiling fan in our office to make the room comfortable again. For some reason in this house, the air conditioning doesn’t seem to affect the upstairs as well as it should. Might have something to do with the fact that there’s not returns on the 2nd floor.

My laptop boots slower than ever. Oh, it’s all the updates, scans and other shit that happens. My bad. For a minute there, I thought that Windows might actually be misbehaving. I’m not big on living behind iron clad doors in life, so it bothers me that I have no other choice online.

It’s time, I think, for me to start the GregsterNET. There will be one website. Mine. $5.00/month and I’ll personally connect you up via string and tin can (it’s still a Beta technology, but the engineers ensure me that it will work.)

Peace OUT
Gregsta’

This was quite a day. That’s all.

gregster

It’s fascinating to me that I’m going to get $600 back from the gov in the next couple of weeks.

They went to all that trouble to collect it from me in April, and now, they’re giving it back?

And people wonder why inefficiency runs rampant in this country.

Gregsta: OUT

Captains Log – Stardate 51108540 – There’s really nothing to report of any interest to anyone. Thankyou.

Trekingly,
Gregsta’