bitterdiva

Regularly scheduled programming

In an effort to show my support and how wonderful a person I am, I quit smoking with K. It comes at a difficult time as well, this week is the big orientation week for the org. All the teachers return, and all the dept.s decide to give me stuff to post at the last minute.

Thursday am I get to be in Troy at 7am. I leave my house at 6:30ish. I wonder if this means, that I can leave work an hour early? Fat chance in hell that will happen. I'm so overloaded that I'm bringing work home with me. A means to appease the villagers before they break out the torches, crossbows, and storm the castle.

Next week classes begin, I'm taking Macroeconomics and Programming in PHP. I'm excited about PHP because it means I'll know a language the programmers don't know. It also means that I can start working on password protected apps for the other dept. It also means I can tell sir annoying lazy mofo to eff off because he has no concern about users wants. I'm hoping that my prof is returning from Japan, I specifically didn't take any programming classes because I didn't want my education being soiled by a lesser prof.

In an effort to leave K alone and to keep me busy I've been cleaning. I guess it's my therapy. Now if only the humidity didn't suck the life out of me so I can tackle my bedroom.

10:12 PM

I wouldn't say I'm missing it

Sunday night during all the rain, K and I ventured up to Freeport to do some L.L. Bean shopping at 9 p.m. whilst everything else gave us the darken facade of closure. There wasn't much to do in Portland during our first night here, the sun sucked all the energy out of me leaving me in no shape to drink.

I purchased the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn: comfort mocs, damn do they rock. The foot issue still persists making it rough to travel around the city when I am sitting and starbursts of pain hobble the foot. I ignore it.

Monday morning I received an email from Casco Bay brewing saying they weren't doing any beer tours and if I happened to still be in the area at the end of the week, they might be able to fit me in. They have a three-day-in-advance policy for tour reservations and I contacted them via phone (got lost in a phone tree and eventually disconnected) and email. No Casco Bay, not a lost.

The first stop of the morning was food, we walked down to the Portland Public Market – basically an inside farmer’s market that is open all year around. Albany so desperately needs one of these. Flowers, fish, pastries, spices, beer, wine, and pocky oh my! I don’t know why I got a kick out of seeing pocky out of the market, but I did. The market houses a gigantic lobster on the second floor that could cut a human in half, but don’t worry, he’s made out of polymers. We stopped at a place and picked up omelets for breakfast, they were delicious and got us going. Right next to the breakfast nook was a coffee joint. It’s amazing how much coffee one can consume a day, it’s more amazing how much one will spend on cups of coffee when there’s no coffeepot available. Poor K.

We went on a search for a comic book shop after our market stop, Phantom Kitty Komix. Google had given us the location on a Mechanic Street but after walking down and up the street, it wasn’t there to be seen. Another visit to google gave another location, so we stepped out again, but no dice. It’s unfortunate because I wanted a picture of their logo for Poopoos.

After our failed attempt at Phantom we sought out another comic shop, Casablanca comics. It was in a complex with a music store, a video store, and a pizza joint. K remarked how it would be the ultimate place for Pat. K got some issues, I even got a book – even if it is issue #2 and I don’t have #1 yet.

Before actually hitting comics, we found ourselves standing in front of a local brewery called Sebago, a Brown’s-esque place with food but much brighter. I had the Hefe, K had the Frye's Leap I.P.A.. The Hefe was good, K liked his IPA more than me. The waitress/bartender was quite friendly and helpful, she was amazed that we came to Portland to visit all the local breweries and even pointed us out to a couple of places including the home of Stone Coast.

Stone Coast doesn’t really exist anymore. Well, they do, but there’s no real brewery to visit, just a restaurant called, The Pie Hole. Wood fired pizza is the main attraction at this place, so you can get a pint of the 420 IPA and a Supremo pizza (chicken, mushrooms, and roasted garlic). We didn’t just get a pint of the 420, but we got a pitcher of it – K was a wee bit toasted after that trip. Also on that pilgrimage was a stop at the Wake ‘N Bakery Emporium – a heady/kitschy diner with pictures of Bob Marley on the wall and glass pieces in the back.

I almost forgot our brewery tour of Allagash. Where is my mind? Yes, the first brewery tour we went on, and I have to say it was quite boring. K and I were the only ones on the tour and if you go there, be there at 3 p.m. it’s the ONLY tour they give. You could stop in for some sampling, and buying glassware or t-shirts but that’s it. I was excited to go here because I thought I was going to be able to pick up a couple of bottles of the White Tenth Anniversary edition, but alas, they were out, been out for quite a while. So we bought a bottle of Curieux to bring back to the hotel room for later.

In the evening, we watched The Princess Bride in the park outside our hotel. Locals and tourists gathered together for the last of the movies-in-the-park series being put on by the city. After the movie, we headed to the bar at the top of the hotel for a cocktail, and for being a hotel bar $13 isn’t bad for a Cosmo and a Tom Collins. Though a cheese platter might be in order for tonight if we don’t hit the public market and pick some up.

Today is the big day, Shipyard and Gritty’s. If there is some deity that loves me, I will get a Pumpkin Head pint glass. First we’re heading back near OOB to find some flee market. K would be just as happy to chill out in OOB, but I’m more at home in Portland. I just don’t dig the beach, ha. No. I just don’t dig the sun.

No prayers | 08:50 AM

Holiday travels

Greetings from Portland Maine! K and I recently arrived in town, checked in, and got the info for the wireless network in the room.

The Salem curse has been broken. We traveled there without any catastrophe, saw pirates, drank a pumpkin beer at the Salem Beer Works, and crashed at a Holiday Inn. US-1 in Peabody was a bitch and a half to navigate through, I thought that CT civil engineers were on LSD but I think Peabody takes the bathtub on that.

We hit Old Orchard beach today and I was able to play massive amounts of Skee-Ball. The back is a bit mangled from the persistent leaning but overall it was exciting. We ate dinner at the Clam Bake, the only place that K has eaten seafood and no wonder he can't eat it any where else. If what they serve qualifies as excellent seafood, I wouldn't eat it anywhere else. The shrimp were tiny pieces of it, more like sweet and sour shrimp with tons of batter and teeny pieces of shrimp.

Portland is beautiful from the walk that we took. I was expecting a little more flat city but it's still cool. Thus far we've seen a bunch of stencils, including one that Rick would enjoy - Hunter S. Thompson.

Time to unwind a bit and let the internet junkie get a quick fix.

3 prayers | 06:56 PM

Vampire white

I am allergic to the sun. That sucks. Vacation starts in three days and I'm going to have to get SPF e^∞ unless I want to look like a frog with boils and hives. And I tan so beautifully brown too, such a shame.

1 prayer | 10:50 PM

There is no fucking you

Today I was supposed to purchase tickets to the NIN concert in November. However, there's been a change and a possibility that the concert may not happen or something. Thanks. Thanks for getting my hopes up that I'm finally going to see Trent when I have money to do so and piss all over my day.

This does not help the overall general malaise that I've been having for the past day. It's horrible when I want to just yell in everyone's face a big ole "fuck you". It's pretty bad.

The day is ruined. Kris has the car at work and I can't even go out to grab coffee and chill somewhere by myself. I guess I'm forced to just clean the apartment now - therapeutic cleaning and all.

09:45 AM