Some Good, Some Bad

It's been awhile since I threw some little thoughts together, so here's a few things that have been bouncing around.

• Got some dinner from the Che Cafe food cart a couple weeks ago now. I haven't written about it - like I have with all the others - because frankly I wasn't that impressed. It's not that it was bad, it's just that it wasn't necessarily good either.
  
  We ordered a sloppy joe special they had going and meat capellini (beef wrapped bacon in marinara and angel hair pasta). The sloppy joe was decent - almost sweet, actually - and it came with a whole potato's worth of fries. The meat in the capellini was decent, but the sauce wasn't anything special.
  
  The couple who runs the cart was very nice. I'd probably go there again if I was in the area and hungry, but the truth is I'm not in the area that often and I wouldn't say I need to go out of my way for it.
  
• On the flip side, we've now been to The Sugar Cube about 35 times now. You think I'm kidding, but I don't think I am. We've tried all the cupcakes Kir has had so far, as well as some fresh apple pie, malted hot chocolate, brownie with olive oil, mocha panna cotta, hot apple cider, and various other things I know I'm forgetting.
  
  She never disappoints. And I think she never will. In Kir we trust.
  
• Why does the mall always have to be so damn hot? Seriously. It's 30 degrees outside, I come in wearing a coat, gloves, and a sweatshirt, yet someone who runs the mall thinks it needs to be 70 degrees. And some idiot thinks Macy's has to be 75. Really? Does it really need to be that hot?
  
  Especially around Christmas time this is even more annoying, because the collective body heat of all the people ramps it up another 10 degrees. Ten minutes into my little shopping excursion I haven't bought anything but I'm down to my T-shirt and my arms are full of the aforementioned coat, sweater, and gloves. What a joy.
  
  I propose they lower the temperature to 60. I still might be warm, but I probably won't be sweating. I'm sure the employees would hate that, but at the same time when has any store that is in the mall ever cared about their employees? All they do is cost them money, right? (That was tongue in cheek - don't get angry mall workers.)
  
• Speaking of the mall, I always seem to think I need to go there every year to finish off my Christmas shopping, and ever year I prove to myself I'm wrong. It's busy, parking is a mess, they never have anything I want, and what they do have I know I can find cheaper online.
  
  Thank goodness for the internet, Amazon.com, and holiday free shipping specials from just about every online retailer I like to shop from. Maybe next year I'll learn and just enjoy the thrill of shopping from my desk - and getting better deals than I'll ever find in a brick and mortar store.
  
• Batdorf and Bronson, the coffee company I've talked about earlier because of their excellent Dancing Goats blend, did a Holiday blend this year that is very smooth and solid. Some Holiday blends - like Peet's, for example - are too smooth for their own good, but this one has decent flavor to go with good smoothness. It's good for mixing and for having on it's own.
  
  I know you can find it in Portland at Whole Foods, but haven't seen that brand anywhere else.
  
• Why is it joggers feel like they have to run in the street? I mean, we have sidewalks, right? Sure, if there is no sidewalk, fine, but if there is a sidewalk shouldn't there be some kind of obligation to use it?
  
  I get it - sidewalks aren't as smooth as the street and they have that constant up and down at the entrance to every driveway, but at the same time they exist for a reason: so pedestrians don't get hit by cars.
  
  I can't count the number of times since the days started getting shorter I've almost hit a stupid jogger because they can't manage to stay out of the street. You know, the street that is for cars?
  
  This goes for kids too - the street isn't a playground. I'm not saying this to sound like an old man - though sometimes I feel that way - but I'm saying it so you don't die. Thank me later. By getting the hell out of the street.
  
• Quick note to bicyclists: Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway west of Scholls Ferry Road is not a good place to ride your bike. There is no bike lane, the speed limit is 35, cars go 45, and the lanes are narrow all the way out to Highway 217.
  
  Traffic rules clearly state that when no bike lane exists you can use the sidewalk - please do.
  
  I get the fact some people think bicyclists should be afforded the same rules as cars. That's fine. If you are Lance Armstrong and can go 35 miles an hour and accelerate at least as fast as a Tri-Met bus that's fine. If you can't, please use the sidewalk. You are just backing up traffic.
  
• The lovely church I drive by every day on the way to work - that I immortalized forever with their thought process here - seems to have calmed down. After that message there was an innocuous one, followed by multiple weeks of a blank board.
  
  I was so curious I almost pulled in one day to see if the church had moved or gone out of business. (Can a church even go out of business? I have no idea.) Then, right about the time I'd decided to stop in there, a new message cropped up, just as innocuous as the one before.
  
  Are they done with the craziness? It's weird...after I posted that earlier note the message was just up for a couple more days before it came down, and since then, no crazy. It's odd, because there was plenty of crazy before.
  
  I seriously doubt anything I write could influence anyone to do anything, but it's an odd little coincidence. Maybe I should be worried...
  

Coming soon - more kitty and puppy pics!