Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Sunday, July 27, 2008

fire sale

UPDATE! Price drop! Uniden 5.8 ghz expandable phone system with voicemail... excellent! If you have a land line... $40



UPDATE! Wireless card for laptops FREE See below

UPDATE! Infinity Kappa car speakers, component system w/ crossover for each channel, 4" mids and 1" tweets. Yeah, I said tweets. These sound great if you have a subwoofer to fill out the bottom. So buy them from me now. I will install them for you if you have 4" component cutouts already. Do you? Send me your car's info and I'll tell you wether they do or not. $40! WOAH!



UPDATE! More freebies... oh man, this is getting nuts! Hard drives! Speakers! Another bookshelf! See below.

UPDATE! Z-Line Legacy l-shape computer desk $65

UPDATE! Black and Chrome Westinghouse microwave, very stylish, looks like the picture below except it's got the old school "W" logo on the front and mine's in better condition. $30

UPDATE! GE corded speakerphone FREE



UPDATE! Mr. Coffee 10-cup thermal coffee maker, NEW in sealed box $45

UPDATE! S-Cobra 19 Ultra II car CB rig with PA horn $35

UPDATE! FREE: Tons of assorted audio, video, computer and electronics cables, power supplies... Just let me know what you need, I probably have it and don't need it.

UPDATE! Dirt Devil vacuum is now FREE.

UPDATE! Awesome Danby mini-fridge $100

OK, let the fire sale begin... Doors opening today. Leave a comment or call to claim any of these items (with the exception of eBay items)

First item on the block... is my leather couch. You know you want to.

Some people might ask... What is it Colin, what is it that you are going to sit on then? Primarily, my Aeron chair. I've had one for some time, and I can honestly say that it is the best investment you can make to your health if your job is sitting at a computer. You don't hurt and you don't get tired of sitting. Doctors in the Pearl have bought one on my recommendation; this is not a joke. Secondarily, the floor. Tertiary, the extra couch from the old office that I have sitting in the storage unit.

Second item... my old-school LaserJet printer. Here's your chance to own a classic...

Third item is that blasted 32" TV - FREE!!! Come over and take it, please, I'm begging you.

And much more!
  • Desk IP telephone
  • 12-amp bagless Dirt Devil vacuum in good condition, $50, and another one in not-as-good condition for $25 (it's a little scratched up and doesn't stay in standing position but is otherwise fine)


Freebies!
  • Linksys PCMCIA Wireless-G laptop card (get wi-fi on your old laptop)... free to good cause, like needing to be able to do homework
  • Audiovox model 0690 stereo speakers, wood cabinets, dating to the 70's, they sound A-OK
  • Nice little Target-brand 2 shelf bookshelf (as seen in my office)
  • GE corded speakerphone
  • Dirt Devil bagless vacuum cleaner... works
  • Tons of assorted audio, video, computer and electronics cables, power supplies... Just let me know what you need, I probably have it and don't need it
  • Computer and laptop hard drives of all sizes
  • Some cool looking promotional nVidia posters
  • Batch of fireworks (no idea where they came from but they look cool)
  • Respectable looking Target-brand 5 shelf bookshelf, decent sized
  • Purple office chair (don't ask) that needs a couple bolts
  • A number of nice, light music stands
  • Unused brushes, rollers, and other assorted wall painting supplies
  • Hard-shell guitar case, Les Paul style, rather nice actually
  • Bulletin board

Monday, July 21, 2008

view

Dear Anonymous... perhaps you should think about why it is that you have to hide from your comments. I'm not passing judgement, as I honestly don't know your intentions, I just find it a little strange that a person behaving according to the best of intentions, or better, to the will of God, isn't willing to put their name and face behind what they say.

This deck is lovely. It's probably about the only thing I will miss from this place. I mean, the condo was never anything special on the inside, being quite outdated; it was the view that made it so spectacular. And this deck, overlooking the Columbia, where I could see into Gresham, follow a plane from the ground, past the towers on the West Hills, and into the sky, gliding over the St. Johns Bridge into the sunset. There isn't one thing that's particularly grand about this view—it's no Kerry Park—it's just being able to see this whole huge city in one shot that is awe striking.

So I type this blog entry as somewhat of a closure, getting ready for a new chapter in life and all sorts of mysteries and adventures that I don't think I can begin to imagine.

Speaking of things I can't imagine... if you have an iPhone, you need to go and download Midnight Mahjongg immediately. It's free and it will blow your mind. Not because it's a great game, which it is, but because of the way you can spin and manipulate the board using multi-touch. For some reason it seems really incredible to me.

This certainly isn't the first time I've used something on the iPhone and thought to myself, "the world is really changing." It's moving fast now. Faster and faster, and I must be getting old, or maybe I'm just too much in the know (being a software developer), but I'm getting a little frightened by it. We, humanity, are getting so fast at development of technology that pretty soon there won't be anything "real" that we cannot do. And at that point, who's to say what's a machine and what's not? Yes, of course God can, but what if He just lets us run with it? What could happen?

Two years ago almost to this day I was sitting on this deck, which was new to me at the time, without a clue as to what I was doing besides attempting to scrap together a business for no reason other than to do it. Looking back I guess I feel rather lucky that God has allowed me to come now to where I am, even in the mistake-making and the wandering more than a time or two. At all's end I have found a life of less stress, more love, more realism, and more purpose. I don't feel like I'm faking life.

I've come to the point where I have vague notions but no goals. I let the Lord move me where He needs now, and I try to resist as little as possible, but I still have a lot to learn. He does have the best in mind.

Ready to move.

please take my tv

I'm drinking a cup down at Morning Star Café right now and it's not as good as the last one. Don't drink the dark blend. IMO. The bagel was great though.

In the next couple of days I will be announcing a fire sale on this blog. Basically I'm giving away a bunch of stuff and selling the rest for way cheap prices. Very negotiable, I just need to get rid of a lot of this stuff.

Here's the first deal of the day: A FREE 32" Sansui tube television. As far as tube TVs go, this thing is HUGE and actually has a really nice picture. It's also very heavy. I'll help you get it down to your car if you get it out of my life. Here's a review of a similar model. It looks like the one in the picture except it's black.

Sansui TV review

Friday, July 18, 2008

morning star

Oh my joy, I have found my breakfast spot this morning!

Morning Star Café on SW 3rd and Washington

Served up a fantastic bagel and a great cup of Illy brewed coffee. It was great, quick, cool atmosphere, cute girls. They even have Voodoo donuts. Good job you guys, you have a new repeat customer!

whack



Wonderful day for a sandcastle event... in the middle of downtown. I was at the square today for a few minutes at lunch cheering on Razorfish PDX, who in the end beat W+K... woo hoo! The end product is shown here.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

bagel bistro

I love bagels and coffee. I had a place I really enjoyed going - NW Bagel Deli in Hazel Dell - but now it'll be over 16 miles away, so I probably won't make it out very often anymore. I'm spending mornings before work looking for a new coffee and bagel place in the downtown Portland area. I will be reviewing them here.

Bagel Bistro on SW 4th and Stark

I ordered the sesame bagel and a coffee, and both came with a smile. The bagel was a touch salty and the coffee was... well, not. Atmosphere is reasonable, lots of breakfast choices including non-bagel-related items. Overall it's the best place I've been to yet. Sadly it looks like Vancouver has the bagel figured out far better than Portland does.

Monday, July 14, 2008

new home

Well, it's been a year now since Sarah, a week since Amy, twenty-four years I've been on this Earth and perhaps only two months that I've even begun to get any grasp on what life is supposed to be about.

I would question even that, but there is real evidence that suggests it's actually true. Change in my own life.

I was coming home without any sort of real purpose this evening, trying to figure out what would be a good use of the few hours I have left of this day, and not coming up with much. Once I got inside I realized that home wasn't a place I necessarily enjoyed being. What a sad and displacing concept. I felt God putting a new desire on my heart, to make my home a good, complete place, not just for me but for people to come and also relax and feel full of life and worship. I want to make my new home across the river a place where I come home and I can thank God for a great day and not feel depressed. I want it to be a sanctuary, where I can be quiet and alone, or with company, depending on what I am needing.

That's about all. Not really profound but to me it's something new and it feels important.

Friday, July 4, 2008

confidence

I've spent two years taking in the whole city from this oversized window. From it I could see life happening far away below a cluster of hills. I watched from the safety of a retirement community across a state line; a place that felt comfortable to me, like a worn-out pair of jeans.

I didn't have a better answer so I never questioned it.

Now that I do... to step out, to move... to not fear what will become of this? If God is in control, what do I have to be afraid of?

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

white

He wakes up at 3:30 in the morning in his sterile white bed in a sterile white room, and he writhes around in restlessness. He has no rest.

Eventually he wanders out to the cafeteria but he only nibbles at bread and sips some very weak coffee. He knows his stomach will hurt all day afterward but he still chooses not to eat.

His eyes are barely open and he looks sick.

Facing east he watches a sunrise through closed curtains in the front room.

Before everyone else wakes up he is back in his room, sitting at a small wooden desk in an old yellow chair, scribbling short phrases and single words onto sheets of paper, which he keeps in a manila envelope at the side of the desk. Sometimes he will take one of the pieces of paper and add a phrase or a word, and sometimes he will pull a fresh sheet out from the drawer of his desk and start new. The ream of white copy paper and box of pens were the only things he'd asked for the entire year.

Looking very fatigued he brings the folder to a close and lies down face up on his bed, waiting for the nurse to come in and do whatever it is she needs to do. Shots, medicine. He rarely says anything in protest because he's well clear enough to know it wouldn't help.

Sometimes he spends the afternoon lying there until he falls asleep. When he can't sleep anymore he'll wander out and around the halls, looking through the windows, wondering at the conditions of other people. He walks slowly because there's only so much to see.

This is cyclical.

Once a nurse watched through his window, unbeknownst to him, while he gazed at a wallet-sized picture tacked above his desk. A picture of a woman, the only thing he'd brought with him from the outside. And he said softly, bringing his face to rest in his hands, "I've got to get better, for you—"