Sales call

I took a business trip to Sacramento (Los Molinos actually) the other day. The plan was to fly into SAC get picked up by one of my companies outside sales reps who is from the area and drive several hours to the plant to give a presentation to the owner, board of directors and plant personal. We get there and are greeted by the plant manager who walks us past the conference room but yet ducks in the room for just a second and then leads us into his office. Mmmkay. He was obviously considering if the conference room is appropiate. I'm thinking well maybe he thinks we are all going to try and gather in his small office. The sales rep and I gave each other a look of wtf and got our presentation stuff out anyway. I barely got my laptop turned on before he started talking about changing the layout and the need to go out and look at the area. So we go out to the production area where the equipment would go, discussed a few options and the subtle changes we needed to make, then walked back to his office to hopefully discuss the project in more detail or at least learn what happened to giving a presentation to erveryone. Nope. "I need to get a new drawing and proposal from you". That was it. We did get him to say we were "right in there" on price which means we are cheaper in sales lingo. (Otherwise he would have said we are a " little high") That was the extent of the meeting a whopping 40 minutes to have traveled several hours by airplane and car and many more hours before I got home. Crazy.

Luckily we had one more stop to make on our way back. The mighty Sierra Nevada Brewery. The sales rep had promised me we would stop to try a few if we had a good meeting. The meeting definitely did not go well but we stopped anyway because a beer was needed, and it was Sierra Nevada afterall. The brewery was much bigger then I was expecting and very industrial looking on one side more like a large commercial brewery. (I guess it kind of is) and more of your typical brew pub restaurant look on the other sides with the exception of everything was very upscale for a brewpub.


Here is a pic of the parking lot with solar panels above that also pivot with the angle of the sun. This covers the entire parking lot and it is a large parking lot. This should be a requirement for all parking lots and roofs of most commercial buildings (at least in warm climate areas). Along with the landscaping design this fits in nicely with the environment, looks cool, free energy, and a great use of space. There is also some benefit by parking there as you get some shade from the panels. The steel structure holding up the panels is not elaborate and would be inexpensive to build. The expense of the solar panels is another matter.




This is what all the ashtrays look like at each entrance.

The company logo is CNC milled into the side of the brushed stainless steel housing. As we went inside we noticed the huge polished copper brew kettles which is pretty common for brew pubs but these were a beaut. Even the HVAC ducts throughout the bar and restaurant were made out of copper. Those must have cost a fortune.

We sat down at the bar and ordered a pint. I started with there IPA which was really good but not into my top 10 list for IPA's. He had a Scotch Ale which was a seasonal and quite good. Next up was a toss up between the 20th St. Greenhop and their flagship Pale Ale. I couldn’t recall if I ever had there pale on draft before so the bartender gave us a couple samples of each. The 20th St. was delicious but was just another dry hopped IPA to me. The pale on the other hand is much better (and fresher) on draft then out of the bottle which carries a lingering but subtle bottle taste to it. We sat at the bar and rapped about what had happened earlier with the sales call; going through all the scenarios. Did they buy from someone else? Was there just a mix-up in scheduling? when we noticed this guy carrying a tap and hose with a clamping style mounting apparatus and clamped it to the side of the bar and disappeared. Then a while later he comes back rolling in a keg we find out to be special keg of Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale they have been aging for six months. We could barely contain our excitement as we ordered two pints. The bartender later told us that we shouldn't have gotten full pints because of the high ABV. I told her we can keep her mistake a secret, oh and you should probably only charge us for 1/2 pints then. This is a BIG hoppy beer and needless say we were all smiles. Better eat something.

After finishing our pints and an order of wings which btw were not even close to the mighty goodness of FOTM back in P-town we headed out to get me back to the airport. He had satellite radio in his car so I took over the controls and landed a classic punk rock station as we blasted down the road.




Oh, one more stop to empty my bladder. We whipped into this bankrupted prune farm to water the prunes.

He dropped me off at the airport with an hour left before my flight departed. Perfect timing. The flight was on time since Southwest rules and made it safely home by 8:30. Today was not entirely a waste.

Interstate Drawbridge Damn Birds

I was coming home from guitar lessons and a quick stop at New Seasons for some fresh salmon and beer the other night and got stopped for a bridge lift on the Interstate bridge just 6 cars shy from making it across. If only I had not loitered at the beer aisle for so long I would have had it made. For those that don't know the Interstate bridge is bridge that spans the Columbia River and borders much of Oregon and Washington state. This is also a drawbridge where the first span was built in 1917 and the second span somewhere in the late 50’s. So do to maritime traffic regulations a large sailboat gets priority over thousands of cars which snarls up traffic for at least another hour. The only time they can't raise the bridge is 6:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. makes sense except that traffic is still pretty heavy after 6:00 pm. Anyway, I digress. I was pretty hungry and luckily I had bought a loaf of artisan sourdough for no reason other then it smelled awesome. I tore off a chunk of the bread and scarfed it down. I masticated for quite a few minutes realizing this boat will take a while to cross and I had just bought some beer. I was right in the middle of the Columbia River not sure what state I was in and what jurisdiction I would be in for an open container citation. After little contemplating a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA got opened and I must say very tasty with the bread. I sat there for twenty some minutes enough time to make a good dent in the bread and finish my beverage so it technically wasn’t an open container but an empty one.

This experience made me come to the final conclusion that yes we need to replace the bridge. Not necessarily because it is a drawbridge, not because it gave me some free time to sit in my car and break laws, not because we need more lanes (This just creates more congestion). Nope it is because of all the GAWDAMN Birds shitting on my car! I had 6 droppings on the windshield alone. My hood was covered my mirrors got sprayed, yes the actual vertical mirror surface part. I don’t know how they do it. No framework for birds to rest on = no poop. So what we need is an open span 6 lane freeway (3 each direction) with light rail and adequate bike lanes. Can someone please make this happen soon?

Snow Fun

We finally made it up to the mountain for a day of snowshoeing, Eli shook his cold and ear infection and everyone was finally healthy enough to make the trek. We made it out of the house surprisingly by 10:00 and at the snow-park by 11:30 and that is after stopping multiple places to try and get a snow-park permit. Ended up getting one at Ski Bowl which is where I intended to get it in the first place.
After getting ourselves ready first and then strapping in Eli to the carrier we headed up. I haven’t been there since the Mt. Hood Scramble last June where there was still huge piles of debris from the White River glacial outburst of November 2006 which brought Mt. Hood Meadows to its kness btw as its main access road to the mountain. Now the parking area looks twice as big as before the washout I guesss they had some extra materials handy to use for grading. There was also plenty of other folks out enjoying the day (so much for solitude). The weather however was perfect lots of sun and not very cold maybe 30 degrees. The only thing we neglected to pack baby wise were Eli’s shades so I gave up mine.



We took the high road on a ridge where all the sledders were hiking up to get a good sledding spot which reminded me of my bro’s great sledding incident of 2005. Our annual family get together that year was a day of sledding and playing in the snow then back to the house for homemade gourmet pizzas. I had brought a couple inner tubes and along with my brother we decided to find some steeper terrain. Steep we found but also quite bumpy as my brother went airborne and when he landed he popped his shoulder out of socket and then jamming it back in. A hill clearly meant for young kids with more flexable body parts. The reason I mention this and why the memory came back to me is we did not see anyone else with inner tubes. We saw lots of toboggan style sleds and those round saucers. We saw one one kid probably 5 years old go down the hill backward on of those saucers perfectly calm, he was really picking up speed until he caught an edge which flipped him head first like a somersault only with his hands and feet spread out in the air, slamming him into the hard snow pack. His parents freaked. I freaked. I’m sure my wife freaked enough to get Eli a glass bubble to live in once he can walk. But the kid got up shook the snow off his head and grabbed his sled and started climbing back up the hill for more.

We hiked on where the hill got steeper and where snowboarders who couldn’t afford a lift ticket were making jumps and assumingly tossing back some cold ones as snowboarders often do. We stopped at nice area in the trees on the ridge and had a light snack of dried fruit and granola bars, let Eli play in the snow where he made a great mini snow angel with my assistance.





We decided to turn back as Eli was starting to get a little fussy so we strapped him back in and made the descent back to the Disco. We only descended a hundred or so feet and Eli was asleep. He snored the rest of the way down. Enough so that other parties could hear him as we passed.

We were all starving so we stopped at Mt. Hood Brewing for a pint and a burger. I ordered an Ice Axe which is there IPA and is stupendous on draft especially after a day on the slopes. I traded with C though who somehow through the pregnancy or something forgot what a stout should taste like and didn’t like the nicely roasted malts of the Hogsback Oatmeal Stout she ordered. I think she referred it to tasting like a cigarette butt. I assumed not a menthol and traded with her. YUM-O as RR would say. Next I had another stout that was cask conditioned very smooth and paired well with my blue cheese burger. After a tasty lunch although a little spendy, we got back in the Disco for some off-road action in the snow. Okay just a short snow plow run-out area but still fun. We didn’t spin a tire and Eli already loves fourwheeling!

Dad Duty

Day 1: 7:42 AM My first day staying at home with my son. This is soo awesome, I can't wait to start spending time with Eli during my leave (FMLA). My lovely wife brought him into our bed and laid him down by me before she left for work. I wondered why she brought him in our bed if he was asleep in the crib. I had just been up at 6:00 to feed him and thought he would sleep for a couple more hours without waking up. No matter as he drifted right back asleep. Sweet, now I am going to get up to figure out this blogging thing... 8:30 AM. So much for getting up early but Eli is still sleeping peacefully. Time to get up and start my new responsibilities as a stay at home Dad.

General Events of the day:

Make Coffee.

Make Bottles. 5 of them! Make more less often that is my evil plan.

Make breakfast. Normally it is just cereal or toast and out the door, but I spotted some chicken sausage I bought almost two weeks ago that needs to be thrown out and figured I would just cook it extra long to make it safe. Of course I need some scrambled eggs to go with the sausage and oh and some leftover Vermont cheddar from the cheese and wine party. Some wheat toast and Bam! Huge ass breakfast!

Take dirty diapers outside for diaper service for pick up.

Make Eli some tasty organic cereal and carrots.

Wake Eli, change dirty diaper and clean said dirtiness from Eli's butt, taint, sac, and wiener area.
Feed Eli. Crap this takes longer then I expected. I hope I am not late for his Dr. apt.

Like the carrot stache?

I had exactly 30 minutes to get both of us dressed and out the door to make his Dr. apt. a feat that should take way less then 30 minutes but somehow this takes much longer. I get him in his car seat and back out of the driveway and arrive at the Dr. only one or two minutes late. Success in my book.

Back in the driveway at Noon and Eli is asleep. So back into the crib he goes for a nap that only lasts for twenty minutes tops.

Eli wakes up. Change Diaper. Eat leftover Chili

Feed Eli.

Change Diaper. More poo.

Go to Gym. Remember as I walk to the front desk that the Kid's Club is closed from 12:00-4:00. Good times.

Go back home. decide to go for a run. Get the mighty BOB jogging stroller from the garage, bundle up Eli with stocking cap, mittens and blanket and run for 15 minutes realizing that leftover chili is best after running not before. Come back early. Put Stroller away.

Feed Eli. Entertain him by playing "All of me" a few times with my acoustic before starting dinner prep and... My wife opens the door an hour earlier then I expected. I'm sure she thought I was playing the guitar all day and Eli's diaper was overflowing. Good day overall. Tomorrow I shall play guitar all day. j/k