Thanksgiving Fun

We spent Thanksgiving with Stephanie's family this year. We drove 5 hours from Boise to Montpelier, Idaho and that is about as far as I am willing to drive for just about anything. We had Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Helen, Steph's grandma, and it was fantastic. It was a very simple Thanksgiving for us as all we had to do was show up and eat as much as we possibly could. In my case, that is a whole lot of every single thing on the table. In Steph's case, it would be just ham and rolls. Nothing else, just ham and rolls. She is an adventurous one. I am rather upset that I will not be indulging in any cold turkey sandwiches this week. There is nothing better than a cold turkey sandwich with mayo on white bread. Yum-O!

After dinner and naps, we had the customary game of hand and foot. For those of you who are not familiar, that is a card game that every person in the Portela family knows how to play. In fact, within an hour of meeting Steph's family, grandma assigned herself as my teacher of hand and foot. I think we have played every time we have come to visit since that first meeting.

We watched a riveting episode of Survivor that night with the Allens and went to bed happy. We hope you all had as great a Thanksgiving as we did.

My First Glimpse of the Oregon Coast

I was in Eugene, Oregon this week, and my brother just happened to be there on vacation with his friend Dane. I haven't seen him for a very long time so it was fun to catch up, advise him on his girl troubles and eat like pigs at the Olive Garden.

I had some extra time on thursday afternoon and thought it would be a great time to drive out to see this Oregon Coast I have heard so much about. But first, a side note. When I picked up my rental car in Portland I had only two choices...a PT Cruiser or a minivan. There was no way I was going to drive the minivan as I am not a mother of 2 or more children. Minivans are reserved for those people. So I chose the electric blue PT Cruiser. I have never understood the fascination with these vehicles and always thought they were kind of lame. Well I am here to tell you that I will now be choosing a PT Cruiser every time it is available. They are very funky and unique automobiles and a pure joy to drive.

On to the coast! We loaded up the PT with Kyle and Dane, stopped at the store to get me some smoked gouda cheese (which is my current obsession) and started the hour long drive to Florence. When I first saw the coastline in all it's glory I think I stopped breathing for a second. It is absolutely stunning. This is not your California coast, folks. The waves were gigantic and the general feel of the ocean was very tempestuous. As Dane so perfectly put it, "This is an angry ocean. Let's not upset it further."

We only spent a little time out there, but it was well worth the drive and I can hardly wait to spend a week out there next summer with the family.

My Crazy Travels

This past week has been a crazy one! For those of you who do not know, I work as an Associate Relations Manager for the grocery chain Albertsons. I am in charge of all of our stores in Oregon and basically I make sure everything runs smoothly from a personnel prospective. I do love my job, it's way more exciting than my legal career, but weeks like this past one test my sanity.

I travel to Oregon at least once a week, usually the Portland area, but this week I will be venturing over to Eugene for 3 days. Last week I had planned on being in Portland for 2 days. That didn't work out. First let me say that I have yet to travel to Portland when it is not raining. They tell me that there are many days when it does not rain, but I have yet to see it with my own eyes. When my plane landed on Tuesday it was pouring rain, nothing unusual. I then learn that Oregon and Washington are in the middle of some of the worst rains they have seen in 100 years. Still, the only difference it makes to me is that it is raining slightly harder than the previous week. It's all about perspective I guess. I saw all kinds of landslides and floods on the news at my hotel on Tuesday night, and actually had to assist some of our associates in one area to find alternative housing. On Wednesday I gave myself 2 hours to drive to the airport to catch my flight home, but it was not enough. So I had to stay in the torrential downpours for another night. I finally get home at noon on Thursday to find out I must return to Portland on Friday morning.

By Friday the winds have picked up in addition to the rain and it is all I can do to not vomit on the plane ride over. Interesting story about that trip...I was sitting in the emergency exit row and the flight attendant comes over to make sure we are willing and able to assist in case there is an emergency. The guy sitting next to me listens to her describe the features of our Boeing 747-700 series and then says "Oh I see that the doors now raise up instead of twisting out." She confirms that the doors now raise Lamborghini style. He then says "Well, that will be easier for us. Do we still exit to the end of the wing and then slide down from there?" Flight attendant confirms this as well. I then say to the man "So, you have experience with plane crashes?" He says in a very matter of fact tone "Yeah, back in '84 I was in a crash and I was sitting in the exit row. We were able to get most people off, but of course, a few died. For a plane crash though, those are pretty good numbers. You don't expect to live through a crash." I really didn't have much of a response other than "Well, I guess if we are going to crash I am sitting next to the best possible person, would you like to trade me seats so you are closer to the door?" He says, "No that's ok, I'll just reach over you to open it if you don't mind." Not at all, sir.

So I spend another very rainy day in Portland. I have no idea how these people deal with it. It's fun for a few days, but I could never live there or in Seattle. Anyway, I was determined to make my flight despite the rain so my colleague and I left with ample time to get to the airport. We actually got there pretty early thanks to Kip's bold rain driving. Kip and I were flying separate airlines because I refuse to fly the prop jets in bad weather. So he was on Alaska and I was on Southwest leaving at the same time. They had just started boarding my flight when an announcement was made that all terminals and security checkpoints were immediately closed until further notice. I had no idea what this meant, but I knew it wouldn't be good. It got worse when the gate attendant told us to go grab dinner or a drink until further notice.

I decided to call Kip to see if he wanted to meet up for dinner or something (he was in a different terminal). He answers and says "No, I'm getting on my plane, we are leaving, Alaska rules!" I was jealous of Kip, even though on those Alaska flights you have stand out on the tarmac in the pouring rain to board your flight, and the seats are super tiny, and it only seats 50 people, and in any kind of weather at all you feel like you have accidentally joined the Blue Angels and you are in the middle of an air show. I would have dealt with all of that if I could just get home.

An hour later we start boarding again, but not before they tell us to go to the restroom first because nobody is allowed out of their seats during the flight because of the horrible weather we will experience all the way to Boise. Throughout the flight, at least 10 times, and that is not an exaggeration, the flight attendant with the most annoying middle eastern voice I have ever heard apologizes for not giving us drinks and snacks. She hopes she can make it up to us later. It got so annoying that people started shouting back at her "It's fine, we won't die without our peanuts!"

After an extremely tumultuous flight, we finally land in Boise. As I am getting on the elevator to get my car, I see Kip coming out of the airport. I asked him what was up and he explains that a guy tried to run onto his plain and that they hurriedly closed the doors, tackled him to the ground and carried him away. The very guy who was the cause of the security breach that shut down the airport was trying to jump on a flight to Boise, Kip's flight! That further confirmed that Alaska Airlines has no redeeming qualities.

I made it home quite late, with a raging headache, and the thought that I will have to do it all over again this week. Perhaps the rains have died down a bit, though I highly doubt it.

Halloween and other things

I realize it's a little late to be blogging about Halloween, but I wanted to post some pics from the night so you'll have to bear with me. Jake had a good night scaring the kids, although we didn't have very many this year. Perhaps it was because it was extremely cold. Anywho, that's really all I have to say about Halloween. We took a picture of the cutest kids in the land, which happen to be parented by our friends Sunny and Joe.

Let's see, what else? In baby news, all is going much better in this second trimester. I can hardly tell I am pregnant. I have gained no weight and have not yet started to show. Last week I got both my flu vaccination and pneumonia vaccination so I have two very sore arms. Since I had both the flu and pneumonia last year the doctor felt it would be a very good idea for me to get the shots. Fine by me! Otherwise, we are just waiting to find out the gender. The chinese lunar calendar says it's a girl, but there is also a disclaimer at the bottom stating that the test is only accurate 50% of the time. I found a kit online that tests my blood and can tell me the gender within 48 hours and it's 100% guaranteed. You can do this when you are only 5 weeks along! Fantastic, except for it costs $275. We could do that, but then the baby would have to sleep in the bottom drawer of our dresser because we could not afford a crib. So, I suppose we will patiently wait for the ultrasound which is still 5 weeks away. The suspense is killing me, although my strong hunch is that it's a boy.

And now for some of my favorite one liners from the Coffee News, which you can find in just about every restaurant in Boise.

"I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time." So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance."

"For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out. Then I filled my humidifier with wax, and now my room is all shiny."

"When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, "Did you sleep good?" I said, "No, I made a few mistakes."

A Sunday Drive

We decided to have our Sunday dinner in the mountains, so we drove up to the Sawtooths. It was a beautiful day, we hung out by the river and then Jake built a really big fire. He ate hotdogs and I had a green apple, a granny smith green apple to clarify. On the way home we saw a vending machine at the side of a gas station that said LIVE BAIT. We were intrigued so we drove over to it. Sure enough, for one dollar you could buy yourself some live worms straight out of a vending machine! I am wondering how they stay alive as it has dipped into the 20's lately. Part of me wants to buy them all so a. they don't have to suffer in a cold vending machine and b. they don't have to suffer as someone's live bait. Are these my maternal instincts kicking in? Anyway, enjoy the photos, especially the one where Jake is being one with nature.

5 Things I Can't Live Without

This morning I was driving to work as usual when I encountered some very heavy traffic on the freeway. Now for you folks who reside in major metropolitan areas and are not familiar with Idaho, this is not a normal phenomenon. People here think they have encountered serious traffic when the speedometer falls below 40. Anywho, I was completely stopped on the freeway and realized that I would probably be very late. I called my secretary to let her know that I would be late and tells me to tune into the radio to hear what is going on. Now I don't listen to the local radio because I have XM Satellite Radio, which used to be a fantastic thing until they started playing commercials. So I tune in to the radio to hear that 2 Afghani men are leading police on a high speed chase (which i suspect is only able to occur because they have chosen an Idaho freeway to have their chase at 7:30 in the morning) down the freeway and that they are side swiping cars and acting all kinds of crazy. Obviously this has happened ahead of me, because I am sitting on the now closed freeway listening to the report on the radio. The over excited news guy on the radio is giving a blow by blow as to how the police have managed to stop the men and are now holding them at gunpoint, on the closed freeway. The men surrender and everything gets back to normal, although I have now spent a good hour and a half in the car.

My point to this story, which was probably not even necessary for this post, is that after the craziness subsided I was still listening to a local station and the next segment was titled "5 Things You Can't Live Without". Callers would call in and say their 5 things and I have been thinking about my 5 things all day. Here they are, in no particular order, although Carmex has to be near the top.

1. Carmex
2. Green Apples
3. Jake
4. The Internet
5. Music

Now obviously these could change on a daily basis, although this has been my top five for at least a month, ever since my craving for green apples has become almost insatiable. I am pretty sure I would hurt somebody for a green apple. Luckily, that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, I am interested to hear your "top 5".

Halloween Season's Greetings

Hello once again. It is that time of year again where it is legal, sanctioned and encouraged to scare the poo-poo out of four-year-olds in fairy costumes. We truly live in paradise. First I will have a black light on my front porch and this scary pumpkin guy as well. The entryway into my house will be as dark as possible with the use of the shower curtain rod and my dark red bedroom curtains. I will be wearing all black; black leather trench, black leather gloves, black pants-socks-shoes and a black Russian military hat. Even parts of my face will be black. Only my eyes will glow bright white in the black light. I want to get one of those plastic pumpkins to dish out the candy. My hope is that it will fluoresce a bright orange.
If you hadn’t noticed, I (Jake) am writing the blog today. Steph is… Well, Steph is pregnant, nuff said. May your children’s hunter gatherer instincts reward parents with heaps and mounds of candy that you need to “inspect” for razorblades.