Oh joy! It’s another haven’t-posted-in-almost-a-month post! Bear with, kind readers. I know you’re out there. I feel such warmth and joy when someone takes the time to remind me that I haven’t paid my hosting bill and I’ve let my domains expire and hey– what happened to you, man?

Things have just been rolling along as usual. Work slouched back into the realm of tolerability and has stayed there for now. The rain started pretty soon after October began, so I began to hunker down into a thick blanket of inconsolable depression. But suddenly a few crisp, dry fall days appeared in the forecast. For once, our glorious northwestern weather has been actually glorious in a non-sarcastic fashion, inspiring a vague longing for “doing something outdoorsy.”

So I skipped work on Tuesday and took my recently completed new road / commuter bike out for a spin (pics here), logging about twenty five miles up in to Vancouver, WA. The ride took me across the looming I-5 drawbridge, up the banks of the Columbia for awhile, then up around Portland’s mostly-industrial northern peninsula and into the long-annexed city of St. Johns. Unfortunately my route (selected from this book of local Portland rides) took me past an awful lot of high-volume industrial traffic, making for an afternoon that was kinda upleasant at times (and downright scary, considering the recent deaths of two local cyclists at the hands of inattentive truck drivers).

The band has seen some progress recently. We secured a new drummer, Eric, and he’s working out quite well. Our previous drummer, Nate, seems to have secured a union gig up in Seattle, so the transition couldn’t have happened at a better time, as far as I know. We’re hoping to get some shows going again soon (possibly before the end of the year) and featuring some new “rock” material– a little bit less “loud / fast / punk” than what we’d been doing before….a definite improvement. Anyhow, it’s great to play with a musician with a bit more experience behind the kit, and his musical tastes seems pretty compatible as well.

Last night featured a pretty “ragin’” house party in our neighborhood. In fact, when we rolled in around 11pm, we seemingly brought the cops. But it continued on, and we all had a decent time. No citations issued. Malt liquor, hangovers and all the usual stuff followed. Back to the salt mines…