Bryan Robb

  • Played a 00017 today. It was a return at guitar Center. Nice Guitar for the money. Ultimately passed on it but it was hard. Lol.

  • Yesterday I got the news that after a nearly 5-month background check, I got my security clearance and can finally start the new job I first applied for way back in February and accepted in May. Now I can finally let the stress and anxiety of the unknown go and focus on more important things.

  • Without a beard I’m feeling very Bill Murray-esque. Of only I had the personality.

  • Ah yes, the $1000/mo student loan payments are back.

  • >I don’t care if it rains or freezes
    >Long as I’ve got my plastic Jesus
    >Sitting on the dashboard of my car
    >Comes in colors pink and pleasant
    >Glows in the dark cause it’s iridescent
    >Take it with you … when you travel far.

    >Get yourself a sweet Madonna
    >Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
    >Pedestal of abalone shell
    >Going ninety I ain’t scary
    >Cause I’ve got the Virgin Mary
    >Assuring me that I won’t go to hell.

    ~Cool Hand Luke

  • Finally got the garage mostly cleaned up today. Living in a small house, our family’s spillover ends up cluttering up the garage where it acts as a catch-all for everything from half finished projects to underutilized baby paraphernalia. Felt good to get it somewhat organized. Then we played.

  • Yesterday we went to the rhododendron garden in Sellwood for the first time. Today, me and the wife are taking turns with the kids so we can alternate in the hot tub and sauna here at the community pool before we grab something for lunch at the new cart pod in downtown Hillsboro.

  • Shaved my face for the first time in maybe a decade and people keep looking at me strange…including myself !

  • First day of seasonal depression.

  • I have very evidently entered the phase of adulthood where everyone I know in the Northwest is moving back to the Midwest. Another good friend announced they’re moving away from Portland so that they can finally afford a house. It’s getting pretty lonely out here. Honestly, if I could convince my wife, I’d move back to Michigan in a heartbeat.

  • Weekly Update, Sept. 22

    • The kids are watching a movie (Spy Kids: Armageddon) and my wife is off with her girlfriends paddle boarding. We’re winding down after a somewhat stressful week while DW gets some much needed time for herself.
    • I finished a big report I was writing for work early in the week, a few weeks early no less, so I feel like I can release some of the extra anxiety that has been burdening me unnecessarily. I’ve also been waiting on some pretty important work news since May and I still haven’t gotten any word about it. As a result, I haven’t been sleeping the best again and it’s made for some tougher days than normal, especially with the kids.
    • My daughter was sick and throwing up earlier in the week, so I ended up not working on Tuesday and just taking care of her. It was nice to spend some one-on-one time with her like I did with my son when he was her age. She got over her stomach bug pretty quickly, thankfully.
    • I actually picked up a couple new pieces of clothing. I have a habit of not spending much money on myself in this respect. I don’t know why I’m surprised when I look back at pictures from a few years ago and see myself wearing something that is still in my current wardrobe. So this week I made it a point to go through my things and pull out some stuff that I’m not super thrilled to be wearing anymore and bagged it up to donate. I went up to Marshall’s and actually found a pair of jeans from a brand I like (Madewell) for about 1/5th the cost of new. I like this brand because they don’t use logos and the cuts seem to fit me well.
    • It’s the last day of summer and my favorite time of the year in this part of the world. We’ve been having some pretty clear days, which have been fairly warm and clear but not too hot. Rain is on the horizon, so I’m soaking it up.
    • Halloween is right around the corner and we are all planning on going around the neighborhood dressed up as the Mystery Inc. gang from Scooby-Doo. I am wanting to construct a Mystery Machine out of cardboard, some paint, and a wagon. So I should probably get started on that maybe this weekend. My son and I picked up some decorations from Home Depot, including a nearly full-size skeleton that we hung on the front of the house. I’m also growing some pumpkins for the very first time. The largest of the two appears to be slowly turning orange.
    • I am feeling pretty good heading into the holidays coming up. I have been diligent about putting away a little money here and there for Christmas so we can hopefully just enjoy the season and not stress out about money or over-extending ourselves and putting things on credit.
    • I got a few small things done around the house despite not getting my drywalling project in the kitchen done. I swapped out the valve for the bathroom shower so it no longer drip drip drips! I also fixed the door to my daughter’s room so it doesn’t stick when you open or close it. This was a pain when we’d just put her to bed and the door would squeak when we attempted to leave the room, sometimes waking her up. Used a huge 6” cabinet screw in place of a hinge screw to bring it truer. Good to have these small annoyances taken care of. Hoping to make more progress on the drywall project this week.

  • Every once in a while, a lyric so profound hits you in the face so hard that you never forget it:

    >Somewhere in the asshole of my eye
    >There’s a muscle which relaxes when you cry

    *Inoculate the Innocuous* by The Unicorns

    Happy almost 20th anniversary of the release of Who Will Cut Your Hair When We’re Gone?

  • Day 22: **Road**. Snapped this while walking from 10 Barrel Brewing to Pioneer Square for the Built to Spill concert a few weeks ago. As a planner, this makes my heart go pitter-patter.

  • Eastern Oregon is as backwards as anywhere.

  • I see that Nikon has released a retro camera called the [Zf](https://petapixel.com/2023/09/19/nikon-zf-hands-on-review-nostalgic-toy-or-modern-classic/). Looks neat. I wish Canon would do the same.

  • I think I was going into overload trying out all the various federated platforms and blog options. Also super burnt out on boosts and likes over on Mastodon. So I’m taking a break from all that noise and back here at my home base of Micro.blog.

  • Some thoughts today:

    – Sometimes a breakfast burrito can reorient the direction of a bad morning and turn your day into a better one.

    – Be more careful with knives. I almost sliced myself pretty badly being careless with my pocket knife while cutting a fishing line for my son. Thankfully I was only grazed. It is not entirely inconceivable that if I had not eaten that breakfast burrito in the morning, I might’ve spent the afternoon getting stitches.

  • Some jaggoff has a trombone at the neighborhood park, and you know what? I’m here for it.

  • Every time I hear Joe Biden say ‘Bidenomics” I cringe.

  • Having one of those types of days where you kick a whole lot of ass but now it’s 7:30 and time to get into bed. 😵‍💫

  • You don’t need to be a land use planner to figure out there are probably some untidy loose ends around the land lease, but that hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about buying this former Trout Lake lodge.

    [Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/277-Trout-Creek-Rd-Trout-Lake-WA-98650/2057005846_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare)

  • 20 ounces of coffee down, 20 more to go. ☕️

  • Finally got my first “but you *can’t* be X years old, you look so young!”

    Karma really is a b, folks.

  • Get things done around the house or go on an adventure, that is perpetually the Sunday question.