Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunday: 3.22.09

11:05 p.m. And another weekend staggers to its end. Goodnight, gentle readers! See ya tomorrow!

10:58 p.m. Flouride rinse....

10:40 p.m. ....and the Quiz is ready to go. Mrs.5000 says "Tell the world I say goodnight." I'm ready to brush my teeth myself.

10:32 p.m. OK, I've come up with the pictures....

10:06 p.m. Finished movie. Finished fabric sorting. Was reminded by Mrs.5000 that it is Garbage Night, and we broke into our immaculately choreographed Garbage Night ritual. The neighbor's band was playing a cover of "Cruel to Be Kind," which was fun to sing along to.

And now, once again I must face the terrible terrible fact: I got no Quiz! And Monday just hours away!

9:24 p.m. Turns out "Singin' in the Rain" is actually fairly entertaining...

7:50 p.m. Evening has set in with a series of unremarkable tasks. Mrs.5000 and I have coordinated our calendars for the next couple of weeks. She has chosen Tuesday as the day I will take her on a "mystery date." I'm chatting with MyDogIsChelsea, who is bummed because she needs hardware and the hardware store is closed. (A skeptic of my choice to liveblog Sunday, she is now allowing that this post is "actually pretty entertaining." She is a generous soul.) And the last glimmers of sunset fade over the City of Roses.

Over the course of the day, I've continued to wash and dry a small mountain of old blankets and fleeces I bought in bulk at "The Bins" for use as quilt batting (stuffing, for you non-quilter types). Now a vast mountain of shabby fabric looms over the room. So I think, as a capper to this weekend excitement, that I'll watch the next Great Movie in the queue -- it's going to be "Singin' in the Rain," looks like -- and get this crap pressed and folded.

7:21 p.m. Kitchen finally restored to order. Time to put together the Monday Quiz. I usually have the Quizzes ready a few weeks in advance to avoid this kind of situation, but not this week...

6:45 p.m. Mrs.5000: Well, I'm going back to work in the basement.

michael5000: You're just going to leave me to clean up the kitchen all by myself? What kind of monster are you?!?

Mrs.5000: I'll try that on you next time.

michael5000: Hmm. It won't work.

Mrs.5000: Well, it isn't working this time either.

6:16 p.m. Have successfully done battle with the airlines. We're heading to Colorado at the end of June. Meanwhile: dinner.

5:43 p.m. I'm on hold with an airline, which feels TOTALLY old school. Like, pre-1997. But we've got this 2-for-1 thing that I don't know how to access from the web site. Really bad lite jazz.

The bread was awesome, though.

5:22 p.m. Found Mrs.5000 and got settled, but then she called her parents and wandered off. Caliban the cat came and laid down on me, which was pleasant. Typed up some recipes. Now, the timer has gone off, and the bread should be ready. Haven't eaten much since the long breakfast, so I'm excited about this.

4:40 p.m. Several rounds of chess later, I've dried off. Still some time before dinner -- I suppose I'll find where Mrs.5000 is and write up some of the day's cullinary exploits on the laptop.

4:24 p.m. Back. Three laps around Laurelhurst Park to get the blood moving. Spring is a-bustin' out all over out there, even on a grim day like today. Lots of pink and yellow blossoms everywhere. S'nice.

3:47 p.m. I've stretched, I've made a few moves in chess games, and now I'm ready to run. Once I find a hat. Oh, and shoes.


3:28 p.m. The oven is off, there's a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and I've starting typing up some "michael5000 Kitchen" entries. Have been listening to the classical station, and [very specific in-joke] have realized that Edmund Stone reminds me of Toby. [/in-joke] Now, it's finally time to go running. It looks like my timing has been good, as it's no longer hailing, not even raining really, and the temperature has soared into the high forties.


2:34 p.m. The granola is done, the soup is done, the lasagna is in the oven, the bread is in the bread machine, and I'm sweating like an ox. I hate cooking for a single meal, but I love the big production of cooking a lot of things at once.

The kitchen looks like a tornado hit, so now I suppose I ought to clean it.


1:08 p.m. E.G.G. 2.0 is in the oven, and enough of the alcoholic beverage to intoxicate and fatten a platoon has been blended up. Now, on to the soup. Mrs.5000 has made a couple of remarks about my "manly stomping about from one ingrediant to the next." I think she's making fun of me.

Occurs to me that I had intended to get the Monday Quiz set up back at the coffee shop. Damn.


12:42 p.m. And, we're off and running with Ex-Girlfriend's Granola 2.0. The hail has stopped. A slight touch of panic that I'm not going to get everything I hoped to do this weekend done has begun to set in, but this is an expected part of Sunday afternoon and arriving quite on schedule.


12:17 p.m. As the relentless hand of time drags us into Sunday afternoon, I've returned home. I haven't mentioned before, but it is damp, cloudy, and kind of miserable today -- barely over 40 F, when it was 60 F and sunny yesterday afternoon. Spring is a harsh mistress.

Vida demanded a photo, so here I am as a was a few minutes ago:










Note: Haircut, public Bible, chess.com, remains of pomegranite-blueberry smoothie.

As I was posting that picture, it began to hail briskly. My run later today should be all kinds of fun.

But that's for later! For now, it is going to be one of those Sunday afternoons when I do the michael5000 kitchen! That means I can skip lunch and nibble as I go. Today we're doing a soup, a bread, and an alcoholic beverage (!), as well as revisiting the "Ex-Girlfriend Granola" recipe. Might also do a lasagna, but no promises.



11:56 a.m. And another boring Michael Reads the Bible post is in the can! Time for a few quick chess moves, and then home to the castle.


11:23 a.m. Done reading. Now I'm about halfway through writing up the MRtB post.


11:00 a.m. Geez, the Book of Job is so turgid...


10:46 a.m. Well, that's probably enough depressing chess for one morning. Now, time for my weekly Bible-reading session. I used to be really self-conscious about doing my Bible reading in public places because, gosh, what if someone thought I was religious or something. I've since realized that a) there's no reason to think anyone is paying attention to me; b) there's no reason to think anyone who noticed me would care whether I was religious; and c) so what if they did?


10:10 a.m. God, my chess games are depressing. It seems like in the three months I've been playing a lot, I've just been getting worse and worse. My rating corroborates this.


9:37 a.m. OK, fully dressed and at the coffeeshop. The coffeeshop is just a few hundred feet from Castle5000; I've come here fairly often since they opened a few years ago, and a LOT since I got Bruno the Laptop, who can take advantage of the wi-fi. Ostensibly, I come here to "write," but spend at least as much time chatting and playing online chess. By socializing and playing chess in a coffeeshop, I join in a tradition going back at least as far as the glory years of the Ottoman Empire. That I am not interacting with the other people present with me in the physical space of the coffeeshop is neither here nor there.








I had a very light breakfast, so I am supplementing it now with the pomegranite-blueberry smoothy, for the antioxidants, and the coffeecake, because it looks yummy.





9:01 a.m. Got the laundry going and had breakfast -- just a little granola. Then, found myself reading an article in the New Yorker, and had to finish that. Contemplating getting dressed now.

8:24 a.m. I haven't moved. After the last update, I was messaged by Serendipity, and then there was chatting, and then I was messaged by Heatherbee, and then there was some concern about updating my profile picture to something more post-beard. Meanwhile, Mrs.5000 has woken up, so Sunday is really in full swing now! Better go get breakfast.


8:01 a.m. OK, up for good now. Didn't feel great yesterday afternoon, so I was in bed early and am up kind of late, for me.

So: Sunday! Let's see. I collected quite a bit of scrap fabric yesterday -- free boxes and "The Bins" -- so I better get some more of that in the washing machine. Then, I'll figure out something for breakfast.

5:40 a.m. Up briefly to pee. Back to bed.

I'm still asleep.

47 comments:

Yankee in England said...

Wow that is talented you can type in you sleep! Crazy cool. I am off to RHS flagship garden with my MIL but am hoping the time differnce will play to my advantage and I can get back in time for the good bits.

Anonymous said...

Me too. For no reason up past 4 am. Going to convince my head to sleep.

MJ said...

Now, that you don't usually read in a blog!

Cartophiliac said...

I curse the time zone difference. Here in the East, we must wait three hours for the official wake up.

Excruciating!

Rex Parker said...

O god, please don't blog Everything.

rp

PS wake up already!

MJ said...

good morning to you! i was going to say it was about time, but man 8 am on a Sunday????

Michael5000 said...

Good morning, everyone! Sorry about the Pacific Time Zone -- we're always behind the curve on EVERYTHING!

fingerstothebone said...

Wow, so far that's strangely just like my morning...husband up at 5am to go pee, ran into the wall and the kitty ran for the hills faster than he could say 'ouch'; up at 8:xxam, eat my breakfast which, if not exactly granola, is my own brand of oats mixture of sorts; now I'm waiting for my husband to start doing the laundry.

Michael5000 said...

@fingers: Thanks for the field report! What we see here is some of the universality of the Sunday experience! Hope your wall is OK. Oh, and Mr.fingers' nose.

Jennifer said...

I like the way it only takes you about half an hour to get to a second breakfast. (Sounds like a yummy breakfast #2, by the way.)

Chance said...

To future historians, this will be an invaluable artifact of something.

Michael5000 said...

@Serendip: It could be conceptualized as a single, long, slow breakfast.

@Chance: Exactly!

Yankee in England said...

kinda creeps me out that in your first responce back to the peeps you have a beard and in subsequent you do not. Almost as if the fist responce was from a "different" M5K

Anonymous said...

We haven't had an update in minutes! How am I supposed to keep track of you?

Michael5000 said...

@Yank: Hmm, that IS weird....

@Mrs.: Just down here doing my Bible study! Honest!

Anonymous said...

Austin and I are here, excited to live blog with you. Are you still at Sound Grounds?

Vida - The beard! The beard! It's gone...noooo!! Also, you went to the Bins without us? *sniffle*

Michael5000 said...

@Vida: Oh!! I was trying to think of who else it was who might want to bin with me! Sorry... but it was part of a big grocery trip, too, so it might not have worked.

The beard is gone, and good riddance! I'm lovin' the smooth!

Jennifer said...

"Turgid"? Isn't that what you called my readings when you were mocking--I mean, commenting on them earlier and saying yours were so much better?

(I paraphrase roughly, of course.)

Anonymous said...

Vida - Whoa, you buy groceries at the Bins? Is your face cold now? If we came to Sound Grounds, would you pretend you didn't know us?

austin - shall we try for thermals the rematch at the wonder ballroom april 9th?

Michael5000 said...

@Vida: A frightening thought! My face feels... tingly. And, why would I pretend I didn't know you?

@Austin: Have to check my calendar, bro. I think that's the week that Nieces #3 & 4 are with us, though, and they aren't quite Thermals-ready at this juncture.

Anonymous said...

Check this out:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2022629&l=dcc8e20ac5&id=550311746

Please respond with a photo of your current status and location.

Thank you,
Vida and Austin.

Michael5000 said...

Aww... Kitty! I'll take a picture now, but I can't upload it until I'm home.

Anonymous said...

It seems we are really into your live blogging experience..
-V & a.

Michael5000 said...

@V&A: I'm happy there haven't been any problems with server crashes so far.

margaret said...

Michael, you have not posted for about an hour! Siesta, perhaps?

margaret said...

I shall refresh before I chastise.

Yankee in England said...

I am waiting to hear about Granola 2.0 are you shoving your face as I type?

MJ said...

i bet the granola and the entire castel are burning

Michael5000 said...

No, no, we're good. No flames (although, interestingly, the manor house in the audiobook I was listening to while I cooked IS burning!). Everything looks and smells good and has been good to nibble, but I'm not eating too much of it yet because I'll be running soon and don't want to, you know, barf my efforts on the sidewalk.

Anonymous said...

I like the word "turgid."

Lasagna sounds wonderful but I agree with you. Cooking for one meal doesn't seem as satisfying as cooking for several throughout the week.

That is a great shave by the way.

Michael5000 said...

@Boo: Thanks!

@Other Guy: I don't feel like you have fully grasped the spirit of the Sunday LiveBlogging experience. But, best of luck in your boycott-inciting endeavors.

d said...

you are way too productive for a sunday.

here's mine:
woke up at 6a // drank coffee surfed web // ate breakfast surfed web // walked dog // cleaned house // watched bball // done

this is the lord's day, m5k. according to the christians you are allowed to be lazy.

MJ said...

congratulations on your cooking!
i agree with d, you do too much on a Sunday... i wonder how your working days are

Anonymous said...

Austin and I went to Sound Grounds, but you had already disappeared. Good you posted the photo you took there, or we might be inclined to doubt your live blogging experience.
-vida

Michael5000 said...

But d, you cleaned the house. I haven't even really touched the housecleaning.

Dug said...

Being 3 time zones away I'm thinking about bed & book now. Or maybe just bed. Our days strangely seem more interesting when summarizing them so here's mine. Got up and helped finish defrosting the freezer/moved food back into house from yard/rode bicycle into town to watch women's hockey game/walked with dog/dinner with wife in front of piles of newspaper/another great dog walk/read michael5000 live blog/sleep (hopefully). Good luck with the rest of your evening!

Michael5000 said...

@Dug: Thanks for your Sunday field report!

MJ said...

i hope you have a nice evening, good night!

Rebel said...

You are far too productive for a sunday. Plus you are making me miss portland hardcore. I miss going to the farmers market then cooking and baking all day when it was rainy outside.

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe you updated this post when you got up to pee.

But! Thanks for the mention!

Anonymous said...

I also went running in Laurelhurst later today. After Sound Grounds. Your live blogging has made me realize that my day has been eerily similar to yours.

-vida

fingerstothebone said...

Oooh, garbage night rituals, which is also Sunday night at our house...how does it compare with ours?

I go around shouting 'bring out your deaaaaad' (although this only happens once a month) and 'bring out your undeaaaaad' (which happens about twice a month now that our bins are so huge).

Michael5000 said...

@Vida: Did you watch "Singin' in the Rain"? That WOULD be good.

@fingers: We have a garbage night song. It's not much of a song, really: it mostly just goes "It's garbage night! Garbage night!" and sometimes there's little embellishments like "C'mon everybody it's garbage night!" If we are especially exhausted it's more of a garbage night dirge, but tonight it was spunky enough.

Michael5000 said...

@Vida: I meant "eerie," not "good."

gl. said...

i'm a total sucker for this sort of thing but live-commenting was too much pressure. thank you & goodnight!

Michael5000 said...

@gl.: Did you catch the in-joke?

gl. said...

*gasps* MY toby? how delightful! now i have to make a point of listening for Edmund Stone on the radio!