Tonight’s burger club was at Hotel 50 downtown, a place that used to be a Marriott or something, and the burger was pretty good, but not great. It was too salty, and not incredibly flavorful. I’m just spoiled, though. The food in general was good but not great. Empanadas in puff pastry. Churros with a chocolate paste. Fries with the burger that were just salted. Tuna Tartar Cones that tasted mostly of the cone pastry. The best thing was the warm winter fries with “parmesan, chive, truffle, hint of spice” which were the best thing we had.

That compares to what I had for lunch, which was buffalo wild wings. That’s good, but not great as well, and a lot less money but a lot more Beaverton.

So the renovations aren’t perfect, and while we did insulate the rafters, we didn’t insulate the exterior walls. This basically means that it’s a bit cool upstairs. This is a lot better than it used to be when it was unbearably cold, but I finally had to put on my Uniqlo “room wear” to sleep last night. I used to have to put on sweatpants when it was in the 40’s outside and it was in the teens yesterday night so that’s progress.

Other than that, I think I got nothing again.

OK, so I said something yesterday about being DFL. I thought I’d back that up with some calculations, but it turns out that I was wrong. In fact, if my hatred of Excel didn’t skew the data analysis, I found out that I was within one standard deviation of the mean, and in fact was “above average” in my time yesterday. I was expecting to do a little better than that and thought I’d be more in the group of “Slow Children”. Speaking of which, I just realized that my sister had the album by “Slow Children” (called “Slow Children”) who were a new wave band in the 80’s. I can’t remember if I liked them or not.

Honestly, though, I did end up sore today from yesterday’s workout and that tells me that it was at least hard enough for me. Lying on the ground afterwards is another indication. The reason I work out is so I can eat more, which isn’t exactly a sport but is reason enough for me. I know I should have better life and career goals but that really wouldn’t be honest, now would it?

I figure getting NONE of the numbers right on my Megabucks lottery ticket is probably a sign of the luck I always have and I’m probably being punished for watching the fake computer-generated cartoon news from China about Tiger Woods. However, it’s probably libelous (in Chinese, anyway) and I find it hilarious. Mainly because I expect them to start blaming UFOs or something like the Pravda web site always does.

I was going to write something about getting close to DFL at the gym, but really I’m just trending towards the bottom end of the bell curve and am probably within a sigma or so and I also add other crap to the workout. More weight, deeper pushups, whatever I can to make it so I can’t effectively compare myself to anyone else’s performance. It’s all about smoke and mirrors, really, or just make-believe in my case. It’s much more fun that way. None of this getting up at 5AM to take my mom for eye surgery or getting to work only to find out a co-worker died in a sea kayaking accident in my fantasy world. (R.I.P. Dave Graham.)

Yesterday I ended up at a party with a bunch of guys who were playing for the other team. My sister, of course, would say, “WHICH TEAM IS THAT,” but I will say I had the best Manhattan I’ve ever had at the Red Cap Garage. Plus quite a bit of people watching. I have to say I’m old, it was loud, and I could hardly understand what people were saying, but just looking around was a hoot. The Manhattan was also quite potent and I didn’t feel all that great when I first got up, but it was worth it.

So today I spent a lot of time doing nothing. It was FREEZING outside (in reality it was probably a couple of degrees above freezing) but it was incredibly windy as well. I did finally make it out to have a cheeseburger at Ringside with Jeff. It was excellent. I’ve never had bad meat there, though the service has been a little hit-or-miss lately, and the burger was no exception. I think I’d put it up there with Laurelhurst Market and Wildwood, but it does take a bit of work to get a seat at the bar to order the burger.

I also have to get up early to take my mom in for her cataract surgery. I think they do that to torture old people. They get you in early and make you wait all day. That’s my theory, anyway, and I’m afraid we’re all going to find out the truth of cataract surgery sooner or later.

I had an auspicious start to the day. I was so tired that I fell asleep again after the alarm went off, but the radio was still on and I jerked myself awake and didn’t know where I was for a moment. Usually when the alarm wakes me up I know full well where I am and why I really don’t want to get out of my bed. For one thing, it’s been awfully cold lately, and it’s supposed to be even colder next week. I know, just below freezing is nothing to most people but it’s cold for an Oregonian. It’s just supposed to be in the 50’s and raining here.

Anyway, that just led to my usual Fridayness, coming home after work and trying to watch the TV shows that I missed during the week. There haven’t been many of the usual shows on, so there wasn’t that much to catch up on.

I always quote my dad when he was watching the Beavers play football. “They were bad when I went there, and they’re bad now, but for some reason they were good in between sometimes.” They’re good again, but not good enough to beat the Ducks. Phooey.

I left work early today because I had a doctor’s appointment. He’s the only one who ever sees me with my shirt off any more. All this effort at the gym, though, and just a disinterested dude looking at me. On the minus side, they often poke me with needles and do other uncomfortable stuff, so I wouldn’t suggest going to the doctor for any additional self-affirmation beyond find out if you’re healthy or not. I suppose I’d also be better off if I got to bed on time and didn’t fall asleep in the doctor’s waiting room as well. So much for that plan. I stayed up late watching sitcoms on the intarweb after seeing the Beavers lose. It’s not like seeing a common occurrence is going to endow me with more common sense.

I’m back to the being hungry at night thing, which isn’t so bad. My usual help at making poor eating choices are all ditching me this week for poor reasons such as honeymoons, work functions, visiting friends from out-of-town, and rivalry football games (Go Beavs!) It’s just as well. This holiday season is not helping my lack of willpower at all. I even stole a doughnut today (it was from a co-worker, who had almost a dozen of them left after a meeting, so I don’t feel guilty at all.)

Which is not to say that I won’t go to Buffalo Wild Wings tomorrow and make a lunch out of a bunch of fried chicken that really seems more like fried bits than actual chicken. It seems to be a Thursday ritual at work, and a darn unhealthy one at that. Now that I start mentioning food, I’m craving the things I can’t remember the names of at the Guatemalan restaurant in downtown Hillsboro. I’m off to distract myself so I don’t wake myself up with the growling of my stomach. Mind over matter, after all.

I figure I should probably get back to my “regular” diet soon, which means a lot more Mexican food is in my future. I had a feeling of impending doom today, which could just be caused by an upset stomach. I wasn’t feeling all that great last weekend and I topped that off with a lot of tzatziki sauce today. And a salad. Those salads seem to do a number on me.

Really, I got nothing again. This feeling of impending doom is really kind of bumming me out. I figure I can cure it, but it’s going to require my usual flossing and brushing and actually getting to bed on time. Whoops. I blew that again. Oh well.

I have an excuse for going to Ringside: it was a birthday dinner. Almost all of us got the $35 special: salad, small (but remarkably tasty) filet mignon and potato, and a dessert. I’m stuffed.

Other than that, it was a Monday. Nothing spectacular to report.

I don’t believe I got anything done today, besides talking to the couple who are thinking of moving in next door. I was invited to a party, but instead I was busy having a stomachache and taking naps. I honestly don’t think I did much else. It’s probably just as well, since I have to go to work tomorrow.

I’ve had this stomachache wake me up on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and in the middle of Saturday the water bureau recommended that everyone boil their water because of e. coli contamination. I guess it had been detected earlier in the week but they never did find any downstream. I tend to drink a lot of water and a lot at once and that probably throws off my stomach chemistry. Plus I overate this weekend.

At least they think the water is safe again. I’m just happy about that.

People in Portland have this attachment to their water reservoirs that are all open and picturesque. The water bureau tried to cover some of the reservoirs with some sort of membrane, but the citizentry complained. Don’t they realize that ducks and geese swim and poo in the water? Ducks and geese are on my list of dirty, filthy, yet tasty animals along with pigs. Would you want to drink water that pigs swam in? Sheesh. Now we have an e. coli scare and people in m neighborhood have to boil their water. Double sheesh.

I had dinner with Sean tonight at Toro Bravo. Now I see what all the hype is about! The scallops were wonderful as was the hamburger. The other things we ordered were great as well, the fritters, olive oil cake, and dump cake, but the scallops and burger were the high point. Well worth the wait. We got there at 5:30, I think, and it was already turning people away. The burger had a romesco sauce, homemade pickles, and sesame seed bun and was great. I wouldn’t go just for the burger, but go for everything else plus the burger. The margarita we had (I can’t remember the name) was spicy and delicious and I’d recommend that as well.