Beardo Bingo

“A beard is a friend who is always there to give you a hug"

What is it with Portland guys and their beards? Ever since my friend Sabina pointed it out, I've come to notice the insane number of men with facial hair around here. After some digging I came to learn that Portland may be the beardiest city in America (Portland Monthly Magazine)

And then there's the gallery:

“A beard is a scarf that works great while bike 
riding
in this climate —it’s better than wool!

“A beard is a confident vote for manliness"

"A beard is a bullshit filter. It keeps me from working at lame places and 
interacting with lame people."

Is it any surprise that Oregon was the host of the first ever Beard Team USA National Beard and Moustache Championships?

I also found this Beard Type Chart

I think I might start using this as a score card and checking off beard types as I see them. My guess is it wouldn't take too long to get a Bingo Blackout. Anyone game?

These were kind of funny too:
Whiskey History: Trendsetters of the Pacific Northwest
The Beard FAQ - John Dyer's Beard Page

You've Been Hired!

So what was the exactly that I'd hoped for (and received) yesterday? Just a little gift called EMPLOYMENT! My new job starts Monday, April 2nd.

Yup. March 28th - it's my golden birthday. It's my very special, unique, once in a lifetime....

The day when your age matches your birth date.

Given it's context, I don't need to tell you how old I am. Had I been feeling more adventurous, I'd have thrown a "Golden" theme party... I envision it as a dress-up party with everyone wearing gold. Maybe gold food(?), gold decorations, could I even have possibly found gold music? Considering my history with dress-up parties, it'd have surely been a hit. Unfortunately, I can't say "well maybe next time..." because their won't be a next time! I'm just going to use the idea for someone else...(ahem) a certain family member happens to have her golden bday this year too (hint, hint).

Some of those past dress-up parties...

Muppet Party 2007	Viking Party 2008

Parties aside, if all goes well, I might be getting exactly what I'd hoped for for my birthday. More details on that later...

Ike's Debut

Let's just say its been a long time coming. Sadly, I've left Ike-the-bike sitting in the garage in a bike box for far too long. Ike's been on quite a journey, moving from Santa Barbara to Denmark to Sweden and then returning home to me in Portland. Admitedly, I did have a driving force to finish this task. I promised T that I would have Ike unpacked and assembled by my birthday. T had so kindly, carefully, lovingly wrapped and boxed Ike and shipped him from Sweden (and that wasn't an inexpensive ride). I really owe it to T (and Ike) to get my trusty bike back on the road. I don't even want to tell you the last time I rode him... it's just embarrassing. Some photos of Ike's grand release:

Ike the bike in the garage, where he's been sitting collecting dust. Finally the box has been opened!

Ike's first breaths of fresh air as he's release out into the open

All the king's horses and all the king's men managed to put Ike together again. Yay!

Missed Opportunities

I've been working with my handstand collection lately, and suddenly I realized that I missed 4 states during our 2009 x-country roadtrip. 4 states!!! Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina. What a bummer. Will I ever go back?


Speaking of which - since I only started the tradition in 2006, I missed all the crazy traveling I did in Europe in 2003. What are the chances I'll be back to all those cities?
(Paris, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Nice, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg, Monaco, Munich, Venice, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, Grenada, Lisbon, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, Brighton, London, Brussels, Antwerp, Brugge, Frankfurt, Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Neuchatel, Biel, Bern, Lausanne, Vivey Montreux, Geneva, Barcelona, Athens, Delphi, Kalambaka, Milos, Santorini) Fat chance :( But, who knows? I do have a "Men in Uniform" collection from that time period. Glad I ditched that concept (well, mostly)...there were some stubborn officers that would refuse to take a photo with me and it was always such a pain.

Maybe, Hopefully

Good news for me! I'm still job searching, and this is promising... a glimmer of hope in the bleak past few months sending out application after application

OREGON TECH JOBS SURGE AGAIN, POST BIGGEST ANNUAL GROWTH IN SIX YEARS

Go Gauchos!

It's March Madness! And UCSB, my beloved alma mater, made it to the NCAA Tournament this year. Unfortunately, they didn't make it past round 1 :( Final Score: Florida 70 UCSB 55. Ouch.

Nasty Gators... did you really have to eat up our poor innocent Gauchos? It was probably all that grilled meat in their bellies that tipped the Gators off... damn Argentinian cuisine.

Get Motivated!

On Monday, March 14th I attended the "Get Motivated" seminar at the convention center in Portland. The speakers were actually next door at the Rose Garden Arena but they were broadcasting live to my location. In fact, the Rose Garden reached capacity (it can host around 20,000 people!) and the overflow ended up in the convention center anyway. The event featured a pretty impressive panel of speakers. Included were: General Colin Powel, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes, Laura Bush, Bill Cosby, Howard Putnam, Krish Dhanam and Terry Bradshaw. There was definitely a buzz of excitement just being around so many people, and in the presence of such prominent leaders. The event was very well organized and the experience is unforgettable. And to think that it cost only $1.95? It was well worth the money.

"Motivation gets you going and habit get you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get thee more quickly and have more fun on the trip" -- Zig Ziglar

Dust Yourself Off and Try Again...

And I'm back! After nearly two years of absence from this blog, I'm making an attempt to revive it. I'm not entirely sure of "Santa Barbara Chica Meets Eat Pray Love"'s purpose; I haven't moved to some foreign country, I'm not about to embark on a purpose-searching journey around the world... but then again this blog has strayed from it's intent in the past, so hopefully I'll find new things to write about and post. Mainly I wanted to announce the new additions to my page! I've added a side bar photo gallery of my handstand collection taken all over the world. I've also created a Google map that denotes the countries in which I've taken a handstand photo. I even used a gymnast symbol marker to mark each country, and when you click the symbol a popup box with the country name appears. I've added more quotes, some text and I'm still looking for more content to add to the page. So here I go again!

P.S. What's happened since I last made an entry? Well, I finished my travels and returned to the states, and spent summer 2010 working at Gold Arrow Camp. Now I've installed myself permanently in Portland, and am occupying my time until I get back to working. I'm on the hunt, and fingers crossed, will be in the work world again soon!