Car conversation near Millersburg, Ore., I-5 Southbound

“You know what I’m going do to?” asked David.
“…?”
“I’m going to go to the bars near us: Roadside Attraction, Squeez, that creepy bar and grill we never go into.”
“[acknowledging sound]”
“I’m going to ask them what they do with their used frying oil. And then I’m going to take it for them.”
“Uh huh?”
“And then I’m going to put in our garage.”
“No. Hell no.”
“Damn. I was afraid of that. Anyway, I’m going to put it in our garage. And then I’m going to filter it and sell it to people with greasels or to make biodiesel.”
“Jesus. Wouldn’t it be easier just to collect empty pop cans and take them to the store?”
“You can’t make money that way!” — mock indignation.
“Yes you can.”
“Oh my GOD! I’m going to do that!”
I sighed. “Have you heard that recently, because of high gas prices, used cooking oil theft is actually on the rise?”
“Awesome!”
“So you’re going to go steal cooking oil?”
“Oh, I’m not going to steal it. I’m just going to collect it.”

Tags: David, mr. pencil

I kind of forgot to mention that right before my surgery we spent the weekend in Sunriver and Bend, Ore. I suppose I had other things on my mind. One of the memorable things was the gorgeous-day strenuous hike up Smith Rock (near Terrbonne, Ore.). Autumn was with us and did put up some photos on her blog.

It reminds me of other trips and other times. Like this one time with this sort of all-night Bacchanalia. I’ll attach a photo of THAT time (taken on film, probably Fuji 800, with mountain visible in background. Middle of night). Mr. Pencil is on the right.

Updated: Another photo of Smith Rock from the same (2000) trip, from my collection.

Tags: central oregon, David, oregon, smith rock

I am so used to being near Mr. Pencil during the day, either
physically, or, more often, IM-ing-ly (and sometimes both: I’m too
lazy to get up, so I’ll IM him down the hall). So today he’s off on a
half-day work event and I am itching from it. I have become so
accustomed to dropping comments about, well, everything, minutiae, at
him, and I find it hard to do without!

Tags: David, im, Internets, mr. pencil

Our big Thanksgiving meal this year is atypical, and involves a mol�.
A particularly involved mol�. It required an always-exciting trip out
to Food4Less at 82nd and Powell. Going to these edge-of-city
megamarkets is always like traveling, like traveling far away. They
fascinate me, these bastions of thrift with their seven different
brands of fish sauce, their bargain-basement wafer cookies, their
chayotes (both with and without “spikes”), and aisles of Russian
pickled eggplant spreads. You won’t see anything organic, but you will
be able to buy chiles you’ve never even heard of before for this mol�.

When it comes to anything ethnic, these places are miraculous. David’s
insistence on buying a bottle of Thai Pennywort Juice elicited bemused
nods from the cashier.

Just don’t try to find quality “normal” produce or cuts of meat from
“normal” animals that you’d really want to eat. Just because you can
buy pig snouts doesn’t make it a good idea. Well, same with the
pennywort, really.

Tags: cooking, David, international, shopping