Just a couple more days until the Chieftains concert!! I can't wait!

Here's the Sunday Brunch:

Fast Food
"Health food makes me sick." -Calvin Trillin

1) What is your favorite fast food restaurant?

How do I choose just one? I can't choose. Tie between Arby's, KFC and Burger King

2) How many times per week do you eat fast food?

Once a week if I'm lucky. I really don't eat it that much.

3) Describe your favorite fast food meal.

At Burger King - two double cheeseburgers. I'm more of a burger guy than a french fry guy. Large Coke too, of course.

At KFC - the three crispy strips meal with sides of potato wedges and an extra biscuit.

At Carl's Jr - Western Bacon Cheeseburger (or a double if I'm really hungry) but I take the onion rings off. Mmmmm, bbq sauce and cheese and bacon. My fast food holy trinity.

4) Do you always Super-Size your meal?

I only super size the drink. I'm not a huge fan of McDonald's fries so a larger size of fries wouldn't do much for me.

5) What is your least favorite fast food restaurant?

I don't like Mexican food, so I'd say Taco Bell is my least favorite.

Let's brunch:

Patriotism
"When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I wrote this week's meme in honor of our country's Independence Day on Monday, but really it can apply to ANY country, so if you are outside the United States, just apply the questions to your country!

1) What do you like the best about living in the United States?

I like the fact that the standard of living here is (relatively) better than all but a few other places in the world. I'm certainly not living in a country that would need the kind of help that a Live Aid-style benefit concert would provide.

2) What do you like the least about living in the United States?

The thing I like least is that we've allowed essential services such as crime prevention and public safety, health care, education and jobs to go down the toilet in recent years. We've allowed politics in this country to get far too corrupt and too far away from the concept of SERVING the people. This is still a great country, but not as great as it once was.

3) What are your plans for July 4th? (If you are not American, when is your Independence Day and what do you usually do?)

I don't really have any plans. We don't do the fireworks thing anymore, unless we go somewhere to watch them.

4) Describe your most memorable July 4th memory.

I think my best memories of this holiday are my younger years when we'd go to the Albany Timber Festival. There were logging industry-related sports as the main attraction, but there were also carnival rides and similar stuff that you'd see at a fair. At night, there would be an awesome fireworks display. That was always a fun thing to go to.

5) If you could go back in time and visit any period of time in our country's history, when would it be and why?

Can I just go back to the 1990s? Those were some good years. I'd also like to go back to the 60s to see all the great revolutionary music scenes going on. I wouldn't appreciate the Vietnam war stuff and whatnot, but I'd be there for the music. Maybe I'd even see Jimi Hendrix live? That would, literally, rock!

Let's have some Brunch:

Organization
"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." -J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

1) Are you an organized person?

I consider myself a semi-organized person. I'm just organized enough, but not obsessed.

2) What is one thing about your home that has to be just so or it drives you crazy when it comes to organization?

One thing that really annoys me is when the other people in my household don't put things where they belong. When I want to watch TV, I'd like to know where the remote will be. I don't want to spend ten minutes searching for it. Same thing applies with scissors.

3) Do you have one little nuance about your organization that most people consider to be a little over the top? What is it?

Well, I don't know if other people consider anything I do "over the top." But what I think I do that is over the top is having too many categories for things. For example, when I'm trying to figure out where my music files should go, sometimes I'll wonder whether a song should go under modern rock or hard rock because I have categories for both.

4) What is your favorite organizational tool? (bins, closet organizers, etcetera)

I think my favorite organizational tool is the little mug I have next to my monitor that holds a few pens, a black sharpie, and my nail clippers. That makes everything easy to reach and in one place.

5) Where is your favorite place to buy organizational needs?

I don't really buy any that much. Officemax, I guess, because it's close.

Happy Father's Day to everyone!

Things are kinda slow around here lately. I'll have to really think and come up with stuff to post on here. Thankfully there are memes to do, like the Sunday Brunch:

Summertime
"Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon... the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James

Summer is here in Texas with a vengeance...and it's here to stay until late September. We always joke here that we have two seasons here, winter and summer, with a few days of spring and fall thrown in for good measure.

1) What are your plans for the summer? Are you planning on taking any trips or vacations?

I don't have any plans yet. There may be a concert or two to attend, and photos to take, but nothing beyond that. As always, there's the Scandinavian Festival in August too.

2) What is your favorite summer activity?

I think swimming is my favorite summer activity, although I don't get to do it that often. Eating corn on the cob, strawberries and ice cream is good too.

3) Do you sunburn easily or tan well?

I'm pretty white, so I burn fairly easily. I do try to use the suntan lotion as much as I can to prevent that from happening.

4) Do you enjoy the warmth and heat and rejoice in it, or shrivel away from it and stay indoors all summer long?

I enjoy it as long as it's not TOO hot. If there's a good cool wind blowing, that does a lot to make the heat bearable. High 60s and low 70s is the perfect temperature for me.

5) What is your least favorite thing about summer?

My least favorite thing are all the BUGS and insects you get! Bugs creep me out and I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Yeah, I know this is up late.

Sunday Brunch

Dining out
"The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in museums." -Peter DeVries

1) Do you enjoy eating out and why?

Yes I enjoy eating out. That is because eating at home every night can get boring. Sometimes you want something different, and you want someone else to cook it.

2) Where is your favorite restaurant?

Does a pizza restaurant count? If so, my favorite is Abby's Pizza (local Oregon pizza chain). As far as non-pizza places, I like McGrath's (Northwest seafood chain) and a local campus place called The Glenwood.

3) What are your standards for tipping?

Well usually someone else pays, but if I was paying I'd pay at least a 15% tip.

4) Do you have one entree, appetizer or dessert that you specifically go out to get at a restaurant from time to time?

I can't really say that I do, but I do enjoy getting baby back ribs while eating out.

5) Describe a horrific experience that you had while dining out.

One time, years ago, we were eating at a diner chain called Shari's. My steak was so fatty I could hardly eat it. I've only been there one other time, and after that I decided to stay away.

Yeah, I know it's a day late, but here it is.

Sunday Brunch

Wintertime
"Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me." -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

1) Do you live in a place where it snows often? Describe your typical winter and how often it snows/ices/sleets.

It doesn't snow much here. Our typical winter is a lot of clouds and rain. This winter, it didn't rain very much and we're paying for it now. It usually gets into the 30's as far as temperature.

2) Have you ever been snow skiing? Where have you gone?

Nope, I've never gone skiing.

3) What is your favorite part of winter?

I think Christmas is my favorite part of winter. If Pepsi brings back their holiday flavor, that'll be my other favorite part of winter too.

4) If you had the choice, would you move somewhere where there was a hard winter?

No way, Jose. I like our winters here. I prefer not to freeze my butt off when I go outside.

5) What is your favorite winter activity or sport?

My favorite winter sport is ice hockey. Go Redwings!

It may be nearly dinner time where I am, but it's never too late for Sunday Brunch:

Birthdays
"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age." -Robert Frost

1) What is your birthday, what time were you born, what astrological sign are you, and what city and state were you born in?

I was born April 23, 1980. I think I was born in the 11 AM hour. I'm a Taurus, and yes I can be a bit bullheaded at times. I was born in Eugene, Oregon, which is the same place I still reside.

2) Are there any famous events or famous people that share your special day?

Well, I know William Shakespeare was born and died on April 23rd. I think I also read that Michael Moore *gag!* was born that day as well. I know there's other famous folk who were born that day, but none famous enough for me to really remember. Oh, our dog was also born on my birthday! Yes, that's right, our DOG! She's two years old now.

3) What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?

We went to eat at a barbeque/steak restaurant. I had a very filling and delicious meal.

4) What is your best birthday celebration that you can remember?

I still remember the time when a big group of my friends and I had a very fun birthday party for me. We ate pizza, and then went to a local hockey game where we got free pucks and I had my birthday announced over the PA system. We had such a blast that night, and I'll never forget it.

5) What is the best birthday present you have ever received?

I can't really remember too many of my birthday gifts, but in the past few years I'd say the best gift I received was my DVD player. Yes, I specifically asked for it. My parents selected a really excellent player and it's given me some great joy.

364 more days until I turn 26!! Until then, here's the Sunday Brunch:

Pets
"It's funny how dogs and cats know the inside of folks better than other folks do, isn't it?" -Eleanor H. Porter

1) If you have pets, name what pets you have, ages, types, colors, and anything else that you want to describe about your pets. Post pictures if you have them!

Well, you can see my cats and know their names and all that on this post, this post and this post. We also have a dog named Chloe, she's two and she's a black half German Shepherd, half Shar-pei. I'll post a photo of her later in the week.

2) What is your dream pet? (That is, what animal would you own if money, state laws, space, allergies, were not an objection?)

My dream pets are the pets I have now! I wouldn't trade them for any other animal.

3) Are you a cat or dog person? Is your spouse a cat or dog person? If it is different, does it affect your relationship in any way?

I'm a single male cat lover and proud of it lol.

4) Describe your first pet from childhood that your family owned. Post a picture if you have one.

We first had a cat named Trista. She wasn't a very outgoing cat, if I remember right. She was striped and I think she was brown and grey and maybe a little white. She died so long ago that I can't really remember. Maybe I'll post a photo of her tonight if I can find one.

5) What is your favorite activity to do with your pets? Give a good funny story about something interesting your pets did, if you have one.

My favorite activity to do with them is pet them. There's not really much else to do with them. THEIR favorite activity is to make me walk them down to where their food is kept and feed them.

A very funny story, ongoing, about my cat Iggy: He follows me out to get the mail! The community mailbox is a few houses down on the sidewalk. If he's outside when I get the mail, he'll often follow me down there for no reason and then follow me back, taking time to rub his face against every solid object in sight before he get to the house. It's quite cute and hilarious, to me at least.

Anyone up for some brunch?

Breakfast
"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." -Oscar Wilde

1) Do you eat breakfast on a regular basis and why or why not?

Nope, I don't. That's because I eat lunch not too long after I wake up. If for some reason I have to wake up early, then I'll try to eat a little something to keep me going.

2) What is your typical everyday breakfast?

If I do eat breakfast, it's usually toast or cereal or something like that.

3) How do you eat your eggs?

I'm not an egg eater, so I don't eat them any way at all.

4) What is your favorite restaurant to eat breakfast out at?

Anywhere with good waffles or pancakes.

5) Describe your perfect breakfast in detail.

Plenty of orange juice to drink. Light, fluffy, buttery pancakes with lots of rich maple syrup. If they have chocolate chips or blueberries in them, that's even better. Big, crisp, fluffy waffles steaming and covered in butter and syrup. Lots of juicy, crisp bacon. Cinammon roll for dessert. Now THAT sounds good to me!

It's time to brunch!!

The 50 States
"In a country as big as the United States, you can find fifty examples of anything." -Jeffery F. Chamberlain

1) What state were you born in?
Oregon

2) What state do you currently live in?
Oregon

3) How many states have you been in? (and yes, driving through counts!)
Oregon, California, Washington, Arizona, Hawaii, Colorado, Oklahoma, Minnesota. I think that's all.

4) If you had your choice regardless of cost, which of the 50 states would you choose to live in?
I'd live right here in the great green state of Oregon! I love it here, even if it isn't perfect. No place is perfect.

5) Which of the 50 states would you rather die than live in?
I'd love to spend my last days in Hawaii so I can die in paradise.

*edit* Seems I misunderstood the question. The state I'd rather die IN is Hawaii. The state I'd rather die than have to live in would probably be a tie between Florida, Oklahoma, or anywhere really, really cold and snowy.

Happy Easter again!! We're all busy getting the house ready for our guests, but I'm going to take a break and do the Sunday Brunch:

"They have Easter egg hunts in Philadelphia, and if the kids don't find the eggs, they get booed." -Bob Uecker

1) What is your favorite Easter decoration? (rabbit, egg, chick, etc)
I guess I like the rabbits best. And ducks, if there's ducks in there too.

2) Do you like Easter colors or do you wish they were different?
I like the Easter colors. They're bright and happy and bring out the kid in you.

3) What did you do today to celebrate Easter?
Today we're having my mom's side of the family over for dinner. It's been a while since we had a holiday at our own house, so this will be interesting. And it's my niece's first Easter!

4) What is your best Easter memory?
I think my best Easter memory is the time that Easter fell on my birthday, April 23! That was cool.

5) If you are Catholic, did you observe Lent, and if so, what did you sacrifice for Lent?
Nope, not Catholic. No lent for me.

"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." -Frank Zappa

1) What is your favorite medium of visual art and why? (Examples, painting, sculpture, photography, etc.)
I LOVE photography, because I love how it captures the beauty of reality and everyday life. I love how a photograph can capture a moment in time so that we can study it and see it for what it is when normally we just let things pass us by without reflecting on them. And I think photographs are just plain beautiful if done right.

2) What is your favorite painting? If possible, post a picture of your favorite painting in your blog.
I don't have one particular favorite painting, but I do quite enjoy the Asian styles of painting. Especially detailed paintings on screens.

3) Who is your favorite artist?
I don't really have one favorite artist, and I'm not quite knowledgable about specific artists anyway.

4) Do you have any artistic abilities of any kind?
I can write poetry!

5) Do you like to draw or paint?
Sometimes I draw, but not very well. I once attempted to do a portrait of someone based on their picture. Didn't turn out quite as good as I'd hoped, but I gave it my best shot.

It's time for the Sunday Brunch!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
"You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was." -Irish Proverb

1) What did you do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, if anything?
I listened to a lot of Celtic music.

2) Did you wear green, and if so, what?
I wore a green t-shirt and, when I went to the art museum, my green hat.

3) Have you ever seen a rainbow from end to end?
I've seen rainbows, but I'm not really sure if I've ever seen one end to end.

4) Have you ever visited or want to visit Ireland?
I've never been there but I'd LOVE to!

5) What is your best St. Patrick’s Day memory?
Uhhhh . . . I don't really have a lot of St. Patrick's memories. It's not a really big holiday for me. I guess I do remember wearing green at school if you didn't wanna get pinched.

It might be nighttime, but I'm still gonna brunch and you can't stop me!

Colleges and Universities
"Fathers send their sons to college either because they went to college or because they didn't." -L.L. Henderson

1) Did you go to college?
Yes I did, all four years.

2) Did you live in a dorm or an apartment?
I lived in the dorms for all four years, and had my own room for the last two.

3) Who was your favorite roommate?
I only had two roommates, and my favorite would be my roommate from my Freshman year, Ben. He was a cool guy.

4) What is your favorite college sport?
Hockey is my favorite college sport, with basketball a close second.

5) Who was your favorite professor and class?
I think my favorite class was Norwegian class, which I took my first two years in college. My favorite professors were my Norwegian class professors, Zoe and Linda.

This morning I was very close to putting my music links in a drop-down menu on the sidebar, but I decided against it because the links don't open in a new window. I'm not sure how many people would be annoyed by that, so I'm leaving the links as they are for now.

Here's a Sunday Brunch:

Your Kitchen
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." -Harry Vaughan

1) What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
My favorite kitchen appliance would be the microwave, because it cooks things fast and easy.

2) What kind of cookware do you have?
I've never really paid attention and I wouldn't know the difference between cookware types anyhow, so I really don't know what kind we have.

3) What color are your countertops and cabinets?
Our counters are tan and white tile, and our cabinets are brown.

4) Name one kitchen appliance or gadget that you wish you had.
A George Foreman grill or a pizza oven would both be awesome.

5) Describe your dream kitchen.
My dream kitchen would come with its own chef so I wouldn't have to do any cooking. It'd also have a soda fountain with all my favorite brands of soda for quick and easy refreshment. Maybe a pizza-making station as well. Also, a super-huge dishwasher and self-cleaning counters (well, it's my DREAM kitchen!)

I'm gonna start playing a new meme here on Sundays so that I'll have something to post on Sundays. It's called the Sunday Brunch and can be found at www.sundaybrunch.org

Here's this week's brunch!!

Lunch
"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch." -Orson Welles

1) Do you take your lunch hour at work?

I'm unemployed so I take my lunch hour at home!

2) What is your favorite place to eat lunch at?

When I go out to lunch, which isn't too often, I like to go to KFC.

3) What do you usually eat for lunch?

I usually make myself a pizza.

4) Do you have anyone that you eat lunch with on a regular basis?

Nope, I'm the only one home during lunch.

5) If not eating, what do you usually do on your lunch hour?

I also read the newspaper during my "lunch hour."

Why? Because We Like You!

I found this while browsing around and thought it was fun, so I'm going to answer it. It's from the Sunday Brunch:

1) What is your favorite Disney movie and why?
My all time favorite Disney movie is definitely "The Little Mermaid," because it came out when I was in Elementary school and was one of the first "new" Disney movies that I saw in theaters. I also love it because it's set in the sea, it's a fun, colorful movie, and that Ariel is pretty cute!! She's a redhead like myself.

2) Who is your favorite Disney character and why?
Some of my favorite Disney characters include Ariel and Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid," the Seven Dwarves from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" (because they're short like myself!), The Cheshire Cat from "Alice in Wonderland," Timon and Puumba from "The Lion King," Dory from "Finding Nemo" because she's voiced by Ellen Degeneres, and the turtle from "Finding Nemo" because he's just a cool dude!

3) What is your favorite Disney song and why?
I think my favorite would be "Under The Sea" from "The Little Mermaid" because it's from my favorite Disney movie, and because we used to sing it in music class in Elementary school around the time the movie came out. I always thought it was cool that we got to sing these popular Disney songs in class.

4) Disneyland or Disneyworld? Why?
Disneyworld just seems like a lot more fun. I don't really know much about the differences between the two, but it seems like there's a lot more stuff to do at Disneyworld. I definitely want to get to both someday, though.

5) Do you have any decorations or articles of clothing in your home that are Disney and what are they?
I have Mickey Mouse ears with my first name on them. My sister bought them for me when she went to Disneyland because I told her I wanted some. Other than that, I can't really think of any Disney things that I own.