Water!

This weekend Patrick was in town... it was great fun! Friday we had dinner at Russell Street BBQ and then a beer sampler at McMenamins. We were going to go to the Holiday Ale Fest, but we figured we could actually have a chance at tasting beer at McMenamins (the Ale Fest gets REALLY crowded on weekend evenings). Saturday we had breakfast and then went camping! Patrick and I went on a snow-filled fun hike... we were hiking up to a view point, but the trail was closed 1/2 a mile from the top. I HATE when that happens. It was fun regardless. We got about 5 inches of snow out there... we were about 7 miles south of Vernonia, the town you may have heard about that the National Guard is evacuating people from because they're all stuck! The rain started Saturday night... and didn't stop! At first I thought "great, it's melting the snow so we'll be able to get out of here tomorrow". But it rained - HARD - nonstop until we left. I know people think Oregon is super rainy, but it just does NOT rain like this. It is more of a mist than a rain usually, and never nonstop for days on end.

Monday morning we got the news that Geoff's parents had some seepage (not really a flood, like there was no 2 inches of water in the house, but just slow leaks coming in from everywhere!). So Geoff went over to help with some of the outside stuff trying to keep water away from the house as much as possible, and I helped inside with wet vacing and stuff. That evening we moved furniture, pulled up carpet, etc. I am kind of a freak and actually had fun, even though it was a bad situation, because I like cleaning, organizing, rearranging. I know, that's weird. Geoff's mom gave us an early Christmas present... all of Geoff's ornaments, one each year, for his whole life! And a new one, a wedding one for us. It was SO fun to open the box and hear all of the stories of each ornaments. Ornaments always tell a story, they are so fun!

I ordered some cables (audio cable, component cable) from an online company that I have used before and was pleased with - they are cheap (cables have one of the highest markups of any product) and my order came quickly. My order came quickly again - but instead of component, they sent a coax cable. Not a HUGE issue... but obviously I need to deal with customer service. So I called this morning, and they had an automated answer service that never identified the company that said dial 5 for customer service. So I dialed 5... got a few rings, and it went to a voicemail that said "Hi I'm Larry, I've stepped away from my desk, please leave a message." So do I leave a message for Larry? It's so sketchy! I sent an email instead... if I don't hear back in a few hours I will call Larry back I guess. Odd.