Shame on all the people that missed the Sasquatch Festival this year. The weekend was full of good people, cheap beer and great bands. Despite being stuck in a 30 min. hail storm on Saturday (see what I did there with the title?), a good time was had by all.Saturday, we were able to catch Architecture in Helsinki, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine and Ben Harper. The hail caused some scheduling problems, so I missed The Tragically Hip's set, which is regrettable. We were given reprieve between the storm and the second half of the concert to tend to our tents. I was happy to find that my new tent was one of the only tents in the immediate area that had survived dry and intact, which was a nice feeling. Anyone up for camping later this year?Sunday was much more relaxed than the previous day. The weather had cleared up and we had all morning to ready ourselves for the day's bands, which included the Arctic Monkeys, the Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie and Beck. The Queens of the Stone Age fans were the most annoying of the bunch and Matisyahu's set served well for nap time. Apparently, this was the Arctic Monkeys' first time at an outdoor theater, but they didn't show it, and put on a great set. Decemberists on the other hand, are more suited for a small venue than a rock arena. For me, the highlight of the show was Death Cab, and they were much more energetic on stage than their music belies. Beck was, well, Beck.
The only large outdoor venue, other than various stadiums for HFStival, that I've been to is Nissan Pavillion. The Gorge is at least 20 times better than that. Weather rolls in from the West the whole day, and you can literally watch it be wisked away by the winds of the Columbia Gorge (unless it's hail, apparently). The campgrounds are nice enough, considering there are thousands of people in attendance, but I was not aware that one could pile shit up that high in a port-a-potty. Next year, I'm thinking of renting an RV.
Happenings of Late:- Stupor left on his six-week Bering Sea expedition a week ago. I got a chance to hang out with him in Olympia before he embarked. Olympia is a cool little college town, but a bit of a hippie fest. The town is home to Evergreen State College (famous alumni: Matt Groening, Michael Richards). Omnia Extares, indeed. Caught a Mariners game up in Seattle too. Details on his polar voyage can be found here.- The house search continues. More details when I actually find a place that doesn't pop off the market the next day.- Been considering trading in my truck for something a little more fuel efficient. I don't know how long the wait for a Prius is, but I'd really like one of those. A couple other cars I was looking at were the Civic Hybrid (gotta experience the CVT) and the Golf TDI (always wanted a German car). My only worry is that not having 4wd will limit my ability to go snowboarding in the winter, and in my opinion the SUV hybrids are not fuel efficient enough to merit the expense. Another idea that I was considering was getting a motorcycle to drive on nice days... those things get ridiculous gas mileage.- Spent last weekend in Williamsburg for Ewa's graduation. Despite a few logistical problems, all in all it was a good weekend. The commencement speaker was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the speech was great, despite the religiosity. Sandra Day O'Connor made a short speech also, being the newly anointed Chancellor of the College.- Thursday was the 26th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Although I was obviously not born (concieved, however) when the disaster happened, I get a nice reminder of the explosion every clear day on my way to work. It's a long drive from Portland to the Volcanic Monument, but I would highly suggest a visit for anyone making their way through town.- Good friend of mine, Dana, and her fiance came to visit this weekend. Good times on the town... Don't remember much past the Rogue Brewpub, though.
Last time I posted, I hinted at a few big things that I wanted to talk about.First of all, recently I've been thinking of buying a house out here. I've found a realtor, been looking at a few places, and will probably settle on one in the next month. The whole process is a bit nerve-wracking. I'm looking to get a house that I can work on, but I don't want to end up with a total piece of shit. I'm also trying to get a place within walking distance of bars, shopping and parks. That rules out houses in one of those generic housing developments, which is fine with me, but pretty much every house in downtown Vancouver is turn-of-the-century old.Buying a house comes with that certain sense of settling down, and with that comes my second tidbit of news. I asked Ewa to marry me on April 18th... and she said yes of course. So now there is a wedding summer of 2007. Ewa is moving out here in a little more than a month, and I hope to have the house situation mostly taken care of by then. I'm pretty damn psyched about this, since Ewa and I have never actually lived within less than 2 hours apart before except for a few weeks in the summers. All our time spent together thus far has had a certain intensity because we always knew that it would be limited, and now we'll actually have a chance sit back, relax and enjoy being together, without having to worry whether we are getting everything done that we'd planned to do.
Bling!
Well, that's the news for now. I'm running behind on some posts, and I've got a few written at work that need to be posted. I'll try and be a little faster with the posts in the future.As if anyone cares.
