divided we vote

has anyone else noticed how divisive this latest election is? it isn't new but i've definitely noticed a large polarization in our nation in the last 2 elections and this one is taking the cake.

whether it's calling obama a socialist or mccain a war monger... the election process is getting very personal not just for the candidates but for the voters as well. i've heard comments and seen looks of pity or anger between friends and family that make me sick. at what point is it okay to insult someone simply based on their political views?


from bush's statement that you're either with us or against us to the comments that a vote against universal healthcare is an uncaring selfish vote there is a lot of divisive language and tactics being used by both parties.

this is not to say there are not important issues at stake or that i'm sad to see so many people so passionate about politics and their country. but let's stop making it personal and passively aggressively tearing each other down.

if i had a nickel for every time i've had a friend or family member refer to my voting choice as a stupid uninformed vote or give me "pity" for feeling the way i do... i'd be a rich man.

somewhere we've forgotten that we're all americans using our equal right to vote freely and express our political views. but in expressing our views... let's stop short of taking cheap shots and offending each other.

need for speed

i love the latest followup to the coffee craze of energy drinks. it's not really new in the immediate sense... but it has been a growing trend since i first remember seeing red bull cans popping up in college. now, there are vending machines for these drinks, mixed drinks at the bar and too many people who "can't make it through the day and will die without at least one tall boy of amp." we also have more colors than you can shake a stick at and flavors that sound more like tropical or arctic environments than actual tastes.

they all boast brain boosting, muscle enhancing, night-time performance (as shown to the right) and a-d-d counteracting effects but really just taste like cough syrup and do more damage to our teeth and insides than help us jump over tall buildings in a single bound. we're more likely to shake out of our clothes than anything... which may help your sex life or perhaps not.

the other funny part for me to watch is that these power boosting drinks pick up the junkies left in the dust of the mocha madness. anymore, coffee drinkers are more like wine fanatics than caffeine addicts. they pick out their beans or roasts looking for that perfect flavour (yes the spelling is perposeful to show the snootyness of the whole thing)... while the latest group of energy drinking maniacs put aside being picky about the taste and are instead constantly looking for the next biggest fix in a can that will take them to the moon but just shy of cardiac arrest.

what will be interesting is what our next "big" thing will be. oxygen bars are still trying to keep a grip on their small market. but what kind of experience would that be outside of the bar? a can that hisses at you after you open it and you have to inhale as fast as possible as the air escapes into thin air (groan here).

but perhaps with our earth's dwindling potable water resources... the ultimate energy drink will one day again return to good old h2o.

hollandaise

so from the title you probably can tell that we've arrived to our initial destination of our eurotrek... and take some time checking out holland. 

the plane ride was long while the leg room was short.  at 6 foot 3 inches... i almost think it's worth blowing the extra dough on first class just for the extra space to plant my size 12s.  our first flight from pdx to washington d.c. had me behind a guy who pushed the limits on how far back he could get his seat to recline, while behind me there sat a baby seat that restricted my seat back from being anything but in the upright position.  basically, i spent my first leg of the trip spread eagle with my right knee sticking out into the aisle allowing the food cart to smack it every time it coasted from one end of the plane to the next. speaking of baby seats... the owner of said seat was "awesome." i can't remember the last time i've heard a tantrum like we heard from that 3 year old... and i definitely can't remember the last time i was trapped on a plane with one. while i really look forward to being a dad... thoughts of smothering a screaming child have me rethinking my suitability as a father. any parents with advice on how to deal with a situation like that... please inform. 

going from dulles to amsterdam was uneventful for the most part. andrea and i had stayed up the night before so we could sleep on the plane and get on the time zone here.  especially since we landed at 07:00 and didn't want to waste our first day in europe.

we're staying with andrea's aunt and uncle who work for the united nations and have lived over here for about six years. so in addition to having awesome hosts... we also have some great tour guides.  so that's our journey thus far... as we just got in and haven't hit the local town of den haag yet.

more to follow depending on our access and time spent on the internet.

something new something blu

if there's one thing that bugs me... it's lame or untimely marketing pushes. the latest couple i'm not a fan of are the hi-def and blu-ray tag team attack. this is more of a warning to people shopping around than anything else.

many people... including myself... have been jumping onto the h-d band wagon, especially in regards to televisions. in fact you'd be hard pressed to find a non-h-d television at most stores anymore. the problem of course with newer technology is making your whole media system compatible. this is a piece often left untouched when marketing h-d. if you buy an h-d tv you need to pay extra on your cable to get all your channels in hi-def and to view movies properly you have to have h-d dvds as well as a player that reads h-d dvds. so much like every other shift in technology... it doesn't just effect one aspect.

now for blu-ray... the pitch that can't and won't go away from commercials or cardboard stands at the local movie rental stores. do we really need to experience our movies that much more and are they really worth it? in addition to all that... just like with h-d... you need a blu-ray player to play the movies.

this is nothing new and ultimately it just boils down to how much you're willing to spend to re-outfit your whole system. i'm just annoyed when the tech world flips everything with the promise of a better picture and better experience... but i just don't see the bang for the buck.

man time

what is it about hanging out with the guys that helps reset life? what i mean is... every once in a while i need some "man time." whether it be poker, camping or disc golf... it's necessary. i've talked it over with andrea several times, and it's interesting to see the differences between hanging out with the girls and what guys do when they get together. while man time usually involves some form of ruggedness and or competitiveness... girl time often means going to a spa or going shopping or just going out to eat. there's nothing wrong with either of these... but the differences show me why time with the guys or girls is so important.

recently i went camping with dmitry. i hadn't realized how long it had been since i'd gone camping. have you ever done that thing where you list all your favorite activities and then you write the last time you did it? it usually ends up kind of a downer. well it had been way too long since i'd gone camping. and while our wives weren't pumped about us being gone for a whole weekend... they understood and we had a blast. there's just something about chopping wood, jumping in a cold-ass mountain lake and making fire (what i believe to be about as close to creating a life as a man can get... which interestingly still involves destruction) that makes me feel like a man. i think too many of us work in cubicle offices doing work that doesn't stimulate our brains like it should and we just need to get out and rough it every once in awhile and get back to our raw self.

i thought about this recently because i'd heard some guy on t-v saying men were becoming more feminine due to the hormones being injected into livestock. i don't know enough to weigh in on that... but i do see more and more guys in our society becoming too passive and sensitive. i noticed a huge difference when i was 16 in boy scouts. we had a shift in leadership with our scout masters being 10 years younger than the previous ones. they were so worried about their young boys that we stopped camping or doing anything resembling the scouts i loved.

there are just some weird movements in our culture that began with a good intention but have gone too far now. i could probably write a whole blog about how society has been destroying and belittling the career of stay-at-home-moms... the most noble career in my eyes... but i'll leave that for another day.

planned spontaneity

last night... randomly... i decided to take andrea out to dinner since we hadn't been out for awhile. my dad was nice enough on one hour's notice to watch stella, which i said was good practice for a future granddad (this is not a hint, i mean future).

for dinner i chose salem's greek restaurant the macedonia. i'd eaten there before but it had been some time. it's located in the reed opera house, which is one of my favorite downtown salem buildings.

not only was the food great and in my opinion fairly priced... but our waitress/hostess kept bringing us stuff "on the house." we wanted to try some greek wine but weren't sure about committing to a full bottle when we'd never had it before... so she brought out a sample. this may seem like a normal thing to do... but i've noticed not very many restaurants offer this up front... usually you have to ask. she also brought out some pita bread and tiziki sauce while we waited for our meals. and after we ate, andrea asked to sample the desert wine and the lady brought us each a glass for free (normally $6.50 a glass). in addition to the great service... the food was awesome and anyone who's been out to eat with me knows... if there's lamb on the menu, kevin's getting lamb.

one of the highlights was also the dolmas. what i like to call mediterranean spring rolls. very good even if they kind of look like a green poo.

i also love hummus. but we didn't have any at the restaurant... but i plan on making some tomorrow for the debate. if you like hummus and want to try making some... here's a quick and easy recipe. my advice though is make sure you have a food processor or that your blender can really destroy the garbanzo beans unless you like your hummus chunky.

all in all a great experience and i highly recommend it to anyone in the salem area.

when we moved to salem i was convinced there was nothing to do here... but with a little searching, andrea and i are discovering some cool attractions (i.e. the northern lights). the thing with salem is you have to do some research and testing to find the hole in the wall cool places unlike eugene and portland where every corner has something to offer. it makes going out almost more fun because of the unknown adventure that may unfold.

bringing sexy back

last night i was de-virginized of the sex and the city phenom.

here's how it happened...

recently andrea and i visited the local theater/pub and watched the movie "wanted." the experience was pretty good because the northern lights theater is cool and the whole beer or wine with a movie that's only $3 is awesome. the only downside was our (or rather my) choice of movie. wanted is awful and i really mean worse than cabin fever awful. in exchange i promised andrea that i'd make it up by watching sex and the city the movie with her.

we also watched no country for old men and fargo... two films that are definitely more guyish than chick-flick... so i owed her.

well, now i've seen it and having never seen more than 10 minutes of an episode i will put myself out there and admit that the movie was alright. i appreciated that the film didn't bash men as i'd thought it might, and it dealt with relationships more realistically than most entertainment media usually does. i still find sarah jessica parker kind of weird but the movie was better than i'd expected and much better (as any former roommate or andrea will tell you) than many of the random movies i bring home out of boredom.

i do not however feel the need to catchup on the show and watch all 6 seasons. i wouldn't say i'm a huge fan and have been won over (like andrea and my mom won me over on gilmore girls, a story for another blog) but it was fun to watch it with my wife... which hopefully helps me maintain a few man-points.

next film on the list is 30 days of night... sure to be a "winner" as it's my boredom choice off blockbuster.com.