#121 - stranger than life

i don't even know what that title is about. i think everyone gets a little weird around their birthday. some are scared of getting older but mostly i think we like to re-evaluate ourselves and our accomplishments. a year has passed and so we think about it. i do this at new years also. once i reached my 20s, life started getting better every year. if you ask my favorite age, i'll say it's right now. i'm figuring stuff out every day.

my bday is less than two weeks away and i've come to several conclusions. waking up at 4am on the side of the road kind of does that to you, details are unimportant but let's just say it involved drinking and i really woke up. i love to have fun but usually that means going out with a bunch of people to the bar. it's how i spend a lot of evenings and i enjoy it, it's what people do right? so now in order to avoid doing that i need to think of new things. the thing is i really enjoy beer, especially the microbrews of oregon and the northwest especially. i like going to beer fests and what not. it was one of my hobbies, okay maybe my only hobby besides pseudo sports (in which you get free beer for losing). i will probably watch more movies and i want to read more. i will probably end up being a hermit because most of my friends like to drink, a lot. i don't want to put myself into positions where it is hard to keep promises to myself. it's just easier to stay home than go to a bar with friends and not drink.

so back to my birthday. i've never had anxiety about growing older, probably because i'm still in my 20s. almost to my late 20s but still young. whenever i tell someone they say "oh you're a baby!" and really it's true. so much has changed since my last birthday, i started playing dodgeball for one. also, i have many new and exciting friends. went on an awesome trip and had a few new hairstyles... but many things are the same. i live in the same room in the same house. i work at the same job. i have a lot of same, great friends. but i am barely farther than i was in school last birthday. some would say being in the same house and same job are good things but it makes me antsy. not many understand that antsy feeling; i like change i guess. last year for the "special day" i went to the coast, hung out with family/friends, ate moroccan salsa and greek pasta salad all day, went to the river to swim and drink beers, and had a great day. it was just the sort of birthday i like, no expectations, just hanging out and having a good time.

this year my uncle (also a leo) is coming to town from san diego so we will be having a birthday dinner and hang out. i'm not really sure what i want to do to celebrate with my friends though. in all reality it is just another day and nothing special in the big scheme of things but i am a year older and it was a better year than the last. you can't go wrong with the making and eating of good food with good friends though, i'm thinking maybe mexican.

#87 - mcmenamins pub

you can't go very far in portland without running into a mcmenamins pub. this is a good thing. the mcmenamin brothers started way back in 1983, opening the barley mill pub on hawthorne. they brew beer, have movie theaters, hotels, music, good food. the list goes on. every mcmenamins is different but all have similar qualities - art, music, comfort, cool lights, dark but not too dark, nice furniture, old buildings and family atmosphere. i live across the street from one. i've stayed at the hotels, drank their beer, ate their food, saw movies at the theaters, and sat in their soaking pool.

list of 57 pubs (ones i've been to crossed out):
1. Barley Mill Pub - 1629 S.E. Hawthorne
2. Blue Moon Tavern & Grill - 432 N.W. 21st
3. Boon's Treasury - 888 Liberty St. N.E., Salem
4. Cornelius Pass Roadhouse - 4045 N.W. Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro
5. Dad Watsons - 3601 Fremont Ave. N., Seattle WA
6. East 19th Street Café - 1485 E. 19th Ave., Eugene
7. Fulton Pub & Brewery - 0618 S.W. Nebraska St.
8. Greater Trumps - 1520 S.E. 37th Ave.
9. Highland Pub & Brewery - 4225 S.E. 182nd, Gresham
10. High Street Brewery & Café - 1243 High Street, Eugene
11. Hillsdale Brewery & Public House - 1505 S.W. Sunset Blvd.
12. John Barleycorns - 14610 S.W. Sequoia Pkwy., Tigard
13. Lighthouse Brewpub - 4157 N. Highway 101, Lincoln City
14. Market Street Pub - 1526 S.W. 10th
15. McMenamins Cedar Hills - 2927 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton
16. McMenamins Corvallis - 420 N.W. Third Street, Corvallis
17. McMenamins East Vancouver - 1900 N.E. 162nd, Ste. B107, Vancouver WA
18. McMenamins Greenway Pub - 12272 S.W. Scholls Ferry Rd, Tigard
19. McMenamins Mall 205 - 9710 S.E. Washington St.
20. McMenamins Mill Creek - 13300 Bothell-Everett Hwy., Mill Creek WA
21. McMenamins Murray & Allen - 6179 S.W. Murray Blvd., Beaverton
22. McMenamins on Broadway - 1504 N.E. Broadway
23. McMenamins on the Columbia - 1801 S.E. Columbia River Dr., Vancouver WA
24. McMenamins Oregon City - 102 Ninth St., Oregon City
25. McMenamins Pub at Hotel Oregon - 310 N.E. Evans, McMinnville
26. McMenamins Queen Anne - 200 Roy St., Seattle WA
27. McMenamins Sherwood - 15976 S.W. Tualatin-Sherwood Rd., Sherwood
28. McMenamins Sunnyside - 9757 S.E. Sunnyside Rd, Clackamas
29. McMenamins West Linn - 2090 S.W. 8th Ave., West Linn
30. North Bank - 22 Club Rd., Eugene
31. Oak Hills Brewpub - 14740 N.W. Cornell Rd.
32. Olympic Club Pub - 112 N. Tower Ave., Centralia WA
33. Power Station Pub & Theater - 2126 S.W. Halsey, Troutdale
34. Raleigh Hills Pub - 4495 S.W. Scholls Ferry Rd.
35. Ringlers Annex - 1223 S.W. Stark
36. Ringlers Pub - 1332 W. Burnside
37. Riverwood Pub - 8136 S.W. Hall Blvd., Beaverton
38. Rock Creek Tavern - 10000 N.W. Old Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro
39. Roseburg Station Pub & Brewery - 700 S.E. Sheridan St., Roseburg
40. Six Arms - 300 E. Pike St., Seattle WA
41. St. Johns Theater & Pub - 8203 N. Ivanhoe
42. McMenamins Tavern & Pool - 1716 N.W. 23rd
43. The Rams Head - 2282 N.W. Hoyt
44. Thompson Brewery & Public House - 3575 Liberty Rd. S., Salem
45. White Eagle Saloon - 836 N. Russell St.
46. Yardhouse Pub at Grand Lodge - 3505 Pacific Ave., Forest Grove
47. Imbrie Hall at CPR - 4045 N.W. Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro
48. The Old St. Francis Pub - 700 N.W. Bond Street, Bend
49. Courtyard Restaurant at Kennedy School - 5736 N.E. 33rd Ave.
50. Black Rabbit Restaurant at Edgefield - 2126 S.W. Halsey St., Troutdale
51. McMenamins Spar Café - 114 4th Ave. E., Olympia WA
52. Ironwork Grill at Grand Lodge - 3505 Pacific Ave., Forest Grove
53. Back Stage Bar at the Bagdad - 3702 S.E. Hawthorne
54. Bagdad Theater - 3702 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.
55. Chapel Pub - 430 N. Killingsworth St.
56. McMenamins on Monroe - 2001 N.W. Monroe Avenue, Corvallis
57. McMenamins Sand Trap - 1157 N. Marion Ave., Gearhart

i have this new goal - go to every single one. i feel like i've been to many, but they were the same ones, over and over. my first one was in corvallis while i was at OSU. i fell instantly in love with the communication breakdown burger (grilled onions, mushroom, bell peppers and tillamook cheddar)! their tater tots are the best. when i could legally buy beer, i gravitated naturally to the terminator stout, which remains one of my favorites to this day.

Black as the darkest night, rich as the most decadent dessert, Terminator is for the true stout lover. This is a full bodied and flavor packed ale which draws it's robust complexity from kiln-baked specialty grains. Look for a wide array of toasted, chocolate, nutty and coffee-like flavors in every pint! The devoted swear by it, and it remains one of our top selling ales year after year.

if i'm in a mood for something lighter i go with the ruby ("Light, crisp and refreshingly fruity" with raspberry flavor), yum. every pub has a different menu, some don't even serve burgers! one thing for sure is the food will be good, not gourmet good but pub good, what you want with your beer.

the concept of $3 movies with access to beer and pizza was one of revelation. it's one of the best ideas ever. yeah, the movies are a little old (second run) but you can't beat the price. some theaters have couches to sit on and others are more theater style. i haven't been in awhile but i would totally recommend it.

another big thing is music. while a lot of the pubs have music, the biggest venue is the crystal ballroom. great bands that come through portland will play the crystal. let's see, my chemical romance, ani difranco, dark star orchestra, kt tunstall, nofx and atmosphere are set to play in the coming months. i've seen a number of bands there, most recently brandi carlile, spoon, m.ward and the thermals. it's a great venue.

so my goal of going to every one will not be a time-related goal but i just want to go to each one, eventually. i can do it!

#7 - the repeater!

we had this surprise party for my friend at Beulahland on 28th. a few weeks ago her husband called me up and said he's setting up this party for her birthday. what a sweetheart! basically the whole day he had planned out for her, including a spa day and this party. it was really sweet. we hung out at Beulahland for awhile then they decided to move the party back to their place. we stopped to get some beer and thai food then finally arrived at their house.

now my friend told me about "the repeater" before. her husband got it from this medical supply place and figured it would make a good beer bong. go to that link and there is a video you can watch on the pump. apparently it is used in pharmacies. anyways we used it for beer. one tube goes in the bottle, the other in your mouth, like so:



the website says it delivers fluid at 13.5 mL/second. it was fast and it hit hard. it was fun! lol