the cat ate it.

I have found my perfect birthday gift: Captain Kirk Beaded Curtain. The whole astounding "Mirror Universe" art exhibit is here.

Okay, what I really want is lots of dark chocolate, a huge collection of edible plants for the garden, and a new Wacom tablet, but still... CAPTAIN KIRK BEADED CURTAIN!!!

Crap. Our washer won't spin anymore. We so cannot afford a new one.

Scouring Craigslist and Freecycle, but I'm asking here as well: If anyone has or knows someone who has washer/dryer unit they don't want (in PDX area, obviously) PLEASE let me know.

Thursday Night Karaoke at the Penguin Starts Tonight!

The Penguin's owner finally gave the go-ahead for us to start Thursday gigs, but to keep it going, we need SINGERS! The economy's taken a huge bite out of attendance and sales (layoffs have hit our little dive bar crowd hard), so right now it's all about reaching out to our friends and saying:

HEY! You know you need a night out on the town, singing Journey, Queen, & They Might Be Giants (yes we have TMBG)! Why take that night somewhere where you don't even know the KJ? Skip those trendy joints like Chopsticks or the Ambassador or the Alibi and SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDS instead! Shhhh -- we may even let you sneak an extra song into the rotation!

KARAOKE at the PENGUIN
Thursday 8pm - Midnight with chef_chopper and deedop
On the corner of 17th & Tacoma in Sellwood.

THIS WEEK: We're running the FRIDAY show, 9pm to 1am.

Our regular schedule will be Thursdays 8-12 and Saturdays 9-1. Plan your birthday (and book release) parties now!

Heads up for fans of that crazy New Zealand duo. Brett & Jermaine will be at the Schnitz on May 14th. Tickets go on sale this week. There's a special fan presale today (follow linkage on Yelp here.)

Tickets (@ $38.50) are too spendy for Dave and me to afford, but hopefully some of my Conchord lovin' friends can attend and tell us all about it.

Because yes indeed I'm not only KJing tonight (a Special! Thursday! Night! Show!) but it is also...

STEVE PERRY'S BIRTHDAY

And you know what that means?

JOURNEY SONGS FOR EVERYONE!

Come on down. You know you want to hear me butcher "Oh Sherrie" right? RIGHT?

(Penguin Pub
8pm - midnight
8117 SE 17th Ave
Portland, OR 97202)

Our Personal First One Hundred Days Project

(Posted on Brain On Chocolate. (I'll have LJ cross-poster set up in a post or two.)

Dave and I met three months after Bush took office in 2001. During these past almost-eight years, we've weathered job losses, personal losses, bankruptcy, health issues, and the bad luck that comes of making desperate choices because the alternatives are either worse, or not viable at all.

Now, finally, despite the miserable economy – far worse here in Oregon than in many places across the country, and even worse in Dave’s chosen industry – we look ahead with a glimmer of optimism and hope. But as our new president has reminded us time and again, this isn't about sitting back and letting our government bail us out (at least not us as individual citizens), this is about dusting ourselves off, rolling up our sleeves, and tackling the hard work.

Some of you already know about our recent struggles including my run-in with a tardy and callous book publisher that left me sick from the stress with a unfinished manuscript and a demand for the return of all (woefully-late) advance monies. That $3400 bill is now due. I have till February 15th to pay back the first thousand, till April 15th for the second, and till June 15th for the final $1400 installment. Add to that the medical bills I've accumulated over the past few months, the friends I owe who helped me during last year’s difficulties, and our own household bills and we’ve got nearly $8,000 of catching up to do.

This isn’t something we can do on Dave’s current wages, nor on mine, nor if we continue to live the way we live now, even with the massive cutbacks we've already made in monthly expenses.

But this is something we can do if we buckle down and work harder than we’ve ever worked before – take on extra jobs where we can, sell what we can, barter what we can, and save even more than we do now by making ourselves as self-sufficient as possible.

( This is our task for our own First 100 Days. )

This Thursday the 22nd is our ONE SHOT DEAL Thursday Karaoke night: A freebie (I'll be working for tips only) designed to prove to the Penguin's owner that we can indeed bring in a weekday crowd.

If attendance is high enough, there's a strong chance she will add Thursdays to the schedule, which means my KJ income will DOUBLE.

(And I don't think I need to spell out how much more KJ income would mean to me right now.)

So...

If you're in the Portland area and have been thinking about a karaoke night out, make it this THURSDAY at the PENGUIN, 8pm - Midnight. (Now smoke-free!)

8117 SE 17th Ave
Portland, OR 97202

'Fantasy Island' star Ricardo Montalban dies at 88

I will now spend the rest of the day shaking my fist and screaming at the sky.

I will be shutting down this Live Journal for a period of no less than two weeks, possibly longer, starting midnight tonight. I've had some rough years lately, but 2008 takes the cake in utter sucking hell, emotionally, physically, and financially. I'm worn out and I need to gain my strength back before I find myself in a deeper pit than I'm in already.

What I really need is a long vacation, but since I can't take one away from home, I'm taking one at home. I don't know if it'll work, but it's the best I can do under our current circumstances.

See you all sometime in 2009.

(silence)

(AKA what Portland Geeks do when snowed in.)

For on the spot 140 character reports, there's PDX: Twitter! Storm! Team! on Twitter.

For streaming video of falling snow, check out Dr. Normal's Sellwood Weather Cam, located just a short sleigh ride from here.

Meanwhile, my front step shoveling efforts from this morning have been negated.

Also, I am about to start rationing chocolate.

And Nurse Christine Chapel, and the original "Number One," and Lwaxanna Troi.

Wife of ‘Star Trek’ creator dies at 76

Farewell Majel. You were pretty darned awesome.

::ship's communications offline::

...DON'T.

Serious security flaw found in IE

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.

Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it.

The pupper, in her element.

(I took many pictures at the park this morning. Will attempt to catch up on Flickr soon.)

Just when we thought everything was covered and then some, word is in that Vera's $6,200 plumbing nightmare is now a $13,000 plumbing nightmare. And though there are efforts underway for city assistance as well, the fundraiser continues and auctions are still open.

For my part I would like to direct people again to my auction offering of a custom WordPress Theme. Wordpress theme design is what I've been focusing all my web design work on of late, and with the new WP 2.7 just out (official release was yesterday), Wordpress as a blogging platform and as a content management system just keeps getting better and better. It doesn't matter if you don't want to blog and just want a promo site for your book, yourself, your crafting business... Wordpress is all about easy, user-friendly site management.

As for custom themes -- that's where much of the fun comes in, I think. If you want a site that's run by Wordpress but doesn't look like Ye Olde Generic Blog, if you want a site designed around the cover of your latest book, or around the crafts you create, or photos of your cats... a custom theme can do that. If you want a front page that doesn't look at all like a blog, but instead includes excerpts from other site page, photos from your Flickr feed, podcasts via an audio player... a custom theme (with the appropriate Wordpress plugins) can do that.

The custom Wordpress theme I'm offering for Vera's auction will include plugins, the ability to use widgets on the sidebar (a great way to link your site up with any other social media platforms you might be using), and an option for two different page layouts depending on where you are on the site. This is easily $350 worth of work, probably more, depending on the graphic design needs. Minimum bid is $100.

End note: I will be offering up an end-of-the-year special on web work, coming up with in the next few days. Remember: if you pay for web work for a business site this year you can write it off on your taxes in April! Gotta love that. (Is why I'm trying to upgrade my KJ equipment now & not in January!)

(Short version of instructions ganked from newroticgirl. Visit her wishlist here!)


Ye Olde Holiday Wishlist meme, in brief:


1) Post your wishlist. Big or small. Whatever you want this holiday season.
2) Surf around and look at others' wishlists. Maybe there's a wish you can grant.


In no particular order:

1. Dark chocolate, the darker the better. Those 88% Panther Bars from the Endangered Species series? Rock my world.

2. Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go gift cards, for my cheap-ass cell phone.

3. Music. More specifically, music I want to add to my collection to play while I'm on the KJ job. I play everything off the laptop, so mp3s are great. I've got a list of specific songs I'd like to track down (see below, under the cut), but I'm also looking for cool, unexpected covers of popular songs and also dance/trance mixes & mashups.

4. On that note... come sing with me! I would love to see some of my friends out at the Penguin for karaoke nights. I'm there this week and next both Friday and Saturday and after that, every Saturday & the 3rd Friday of every month. We could use the crowds (they've been slim of late) and we'll be smoke-free after the new year!

5. Gift cards from Lowe's or Home Depot -- for home repair, gardening supplies, wood pellets for the stove, pvc to build a new light box... (Yeah yeah, I know I went on against gift cards a few posts back, but in this instance, I'll make an exception. :-))

6. A donation to the Rainforest Writers sponsored writer program. Last spring I had the amazing opportunity to attend Rainforest Writers Village as the sponsored writer. I hoped I'd be in a position this year to attend on my own dime or at least give back to the sponsored writer program so that someone else might have the same experience. I don't know quite how donations are accepted for RWV, but I would love to see people help a writer who can't otherwise attend.

7. Ye Olde Obligatory Amazon Wishlist Linke. I'm particularly coveting the water heater timer these days. Oh, and that cute little flexi-tripod for macro photography.

8. A donation to a local food bank. Requests are skyrocketing around the country and many charities are running out. Portland's amazing local tech community has turned our WordPress Release Party into a Blogger Food Drive with all donations going to the Oregon Food Bank. It's an awesome thing.


( In which you see my bizarre taste in music )

From the Sunday night treasurer's report for helpvera:

UPDATE TWO: Thanks to a very generous donation, the total amount past due on Vera's mortgage has been raised.

Any additional monies will be used to get her help for representation for getting better terms on her loan, medical, sewer, and a buffer so she can have a nice holiday dinner.

Since that posting, and through the generous efforts of John Scalzi and his kickass fan base, Vera's mortgage payments and sewer repair are covered. All of this in just four days.

THIS IS AMAZING.

I'd intended to post an item to the auction this weekend, but time got away from me and I couldn't. Today, on seeing the totals, I could easily have thought: oh, she has what she needs now. I won't bother.

But here's the thing: I know all too well what it means to live without a buffer. Believe me, Dave and I don't have one now. It's stress, 24/7. It's knowing that just one thing -- a dead fridge, a stalled car, a health scare -- could fuck you over for months to come. Living in debt and without a buffer is physically and mentally exhausting, and if your livelihood is one that involves engaging your brain to be creative...well don't get me started on how difficult that is.

So, I posted. I'm offering up a custom Wordpress theme. I wish I could offer the equivalent in cash, but we do what we can. And though this is hours of work I'll be doing for free, I will be glad to do it. (And it won't be the first or the last time, either.)

"We're all in this together, kid," says Harry Tuttle, in Brazil, easily my favorite character in my favorite movie. And now more than ever, Harry's right. This is not the time for judgments about who's responsible for their financial state and who's not. This is not the time to hole up in a cabin, crying "mine mine mine!" And it's not the time to stick your head in the sand, denying that the economic crisis will hurt your nearest and dearest. When we're all in it together, when we're all caring and compassionate toward our fellow humans in need, we just might discover that have and have-not isn't a zero-sum game. Now, wouldn't that be an amazing thing?

This is what's going on outside my house right now.

The house in question hasn't arrived yet (and please let it not be an ugly P.O.S.), but they've got the street cleared and they're laying in the planks, beams, whatnot, to move the house from the vehicle to its new foundation.

Good thing Dave had to be at work at 6am (after my 2am end to the KJ gig, ugh) or I'd be REALLY CRABBY right now.

Instead, I'm going to walk the dog and take pictures.

I may be having a shitty day... chronic pain (now without health insurance!), no client prospects, running out of money and still behind on all our bills, but one thing we can take comfort in is that we still have is our home.

norilana is at the risk of losing her home though no fault of her own and it fucking SUCKS. This shit should not happen to good people who are just trying to get by and have nothing but bad luck heaped on them over and over again.

Please, if you have anything to spare to help her out -- or if you have an item to contribute to an online auction, please Help Vera save her home. (Click on the link for details.)

(Note: I will be donating something to the auction... though I don't know what just yet. I'll post details here when I've figured it out.)

From the Nov 19th edition of the Clackamas Review: Clackamas Town Center's owner close to bankruptcy. The financial details are damned scary. $958 million in debt due Dec 1st, another 3.07 billion due to mature in 2009 and the company's revenue for the past 9 months through September was $2.46 billion. Stocks have dropped from $52.24 a year ago to 49 cents last Tuesday.

Oh, and this same company owns Pioneer Place in downtown Portland.

Even if General Growth Properties (there's a name drenched in irony for ya) finds buyers -- if indeed they have to file chapter 11 and sell off assets -- what all this implies is that many of the stores in the mall are hurting... hurting bad. And what month of the year is historically the peak month retail bankruptcy filings? January.

So, holiday shopping lesson for the day: If you plan on shopping at Clackamas Town Center (or Pioneer Place)... or hell, ANYWHERE, don't buy gift cards. Come February, they could be worthless.

More on that from NPR: Gift Card Warning: Check Retailer's Health.