Today turned into a fun day.
There’s a guy at work named Zach who is very much a hippie at heart. Even more so than me. He’s the dude who goes to Burning Man every year, spends his lunch hour in the park strumming a guitar, and walks around the office barefoot. Anyway, he decided on a whim to throw a “Jimmy Buffett Margarita Tailgate” this afternoon. I assumed he was kidding, until I saw him filling an inflatable kiddie pool with water and hauling in an ice chest filled with bottles of tequila, margarita mix, limes, and beer. He opened the sliding garage door on the side of the office, queued up some Jimmy Buffett, Beach Boys, and Ventures tunes, and the party got started.
When in Rome, right? So I mixed myself a couple of tequila sodas (adamantly low-carb ‘til the very end, folks) and kicked it with my coworkers.
I love this group. Truly.
It was hot AF (that’s how the kids spell it out, right?), 100-degrees plus, but somehow it just didn’t matter. The party broke up after an hour, but proved to be the perfect midday break. I’m such a lightweight nowadays I felt sort-of buzzed the rest of the afternoo. I always joke that I do my best work half-inebriated, but really, I do. I knocked out work orders all afternoon. Who knew tequila could be such a boon to productivity? They should pay me to drink at work more often!
Because of the heat, I’ve been getting up super early this week and walking. It might sound like torture to willingly extract yourself from bed at 4:35 in the morning, but I’m telling you, it’s totally worth it. Now that the sun doesn’t rise until after 6 it’s still dark, and the weather is very pleasant. It was 67 this morning, with a cool, gentle breeze – I skipped the hoodie and was perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts. The just-past-full moon was hanging low on the horizon as I walked through the park, and adding to the ambience was an owl, hooting plaintively in the trees. [It’s funny I ascribe the hooting as being plaintive. For all I know the owl was overjoyed. Or hungry. Or horny. {shrugs} It just sounded mournful in the predawn stillness.] I’ll be nodding off by 10 PM, but I didn’t die walking in the midday heat, so that’s a win.
We were going to check out the Skamania County Fair tonight, but screw that. Instead we decided to hole up in our air-conditioned apartment with records and drinks and chicken nachos.
Tomorrow evening we have a concert at the Oregon Zoo. Tara’s mom bought us tickets to see Lord Huron and Trampled By Turtles for her birthday. We are not at all thrilled about the heat, but what can we do about it? Not a damn thing. I’m just glad it’s a weekend concert and we can sleep in the next day. The weather is supposed to cool off on Sunday, and then it’ll be decent until about Thursday, when it’s back in the 90s.
Thursday night, we are seeing Journey in concert.
Oy, vey.
Mark Petruska 
Once again, I have to ask, does your office currently have any openings for east coast based candidates 🙂 I continue to be so very envious of how you spend your nine to five.
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I wish I had a nickel for every time somebody asked me that! I could probably retire now. And then there’d be plenty of openings!
Seriously, though: I count my blessings every day for this job!
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This is a recruitment post if I’ve ever seen one. Talk about a dream job!
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It does sort of sound like one, huh?
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Only in Oregon? Wow!
Like you said, it’s been hot AF. Even walking at 7 pm has been brutal in these parts, but mostly due to the humidity.
And, um, Journey? Lol…..I actually do enjoy a few of their hits……
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Luckily we don’t normally get much humidity out this way. As much as I complain about the heat, it really does make a difference when it’s a “dry heat.”
Then again, it rains seemingly nonstop for six months out of the year. I guess that counts as humidity!
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“I love this group. Truly.”
And I can see why, Mark! What a hoot that must have been! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the photograph – flawless! I love how laid-back Oregon is!
And speaking of HEAT, it’s been the absolutely hottest and most humid summer I’ve ever experienced here in these parts. However, judging from you and many other blogging friends, it’s been hot all over the place. I am sooooooooooooooo looking forward to Fall. And I truly hope that this coming Winter is brutal, to make up for the torturous heat I’ve had to endure this Summer. Bring on the COLD weather 🙂
Have a great weekend, buddy! Enjoy the concerts!
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You are definitely not alone, Ron. It’s been a weird summer for us: months of cool and temperate weather lulled us into a false sense of complacency, and then…BOOM! It all changed in an instant.
Yeah. I’m ready for Fall, as well!
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Will the elephants be trumpeting at the zoo ?
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I herd they would.
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I just wanted to start by telling you for some reason your format cuts off the end words of every line….not sure whats going on there.
Anyways, your work looks like a ton of fun to work at! Like a inflatable pool at the office? Sign me up!
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Well, that’s odd. Are you reading on a mobile device? Haven’t heard that from anybody else, but who kno
^^^ OK, just kidding about that. I couldn’t resist. 🙂
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I hope you enjoy the zoo despite the heat!
(Checks date of post)
I hope you enjoyed the zoo despite the heat!
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