Ooom Pah Pah

Tomorrow is the birthday of H.G. Wells, who had a HUGE influence on my life, so much so that I named my first car after him.

Oktoberfest in Germany is... well, it's mostly for tourists, and neither of us like Oktoberfest music (besides, the real party in Germany, IMO, is Carnival, the celebrations all along the Rhein leading up to Lent). So neither Stefan or I ever went to Oktoberfest in Munich. But we're both homesick for Germany now, and the PDX Stammstisch group said that Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel, Oregon was well worth a visit. So, we went! Two days, in fact! Here are our Oktoberfest photos. It's MASSIVE. And a lot of fun. Very good food! We met a German lady on the shuttle who has lived in Portland since the 60s, an American/German couple (he's from Northern Germany), and, ofcourse, the Director of the Festival itself, who is not from Germany, but his German is EXCELLENT (see the photos for more info).

The best part for me was that, among the many thousands of people at Oktoberfest, I looked over just after we arrived and there was my dear friend Jerry Curry looking at me and grinning. Jerry and I haven't seen each other in 10 years, and we hadn't had a day to meet up since we arrived in Oregon. He hung out with us for a few hours, and it was The Awesome. Funniest moment of the evening: he went to a booth and asked for coffee, and the guy didn't hear him correctly, and asked, "Do you want that on a stick or a bun?" Jerry responded, "Well, I've never seen coffee on a stick, but I'd like to!" That was our line all evening -- do you want that on a stick or a bun?

Here's a cool note: while I hadn't seen Jerry in 10 years, I did have an extended IM conversation with him from Cairo, Egypt, while I was letting Stefan to sleep after a nasty bought with Ramse's Revenge. Ah, the Intertubes...

Supposedly, our things arrive Thursday. They would have maybe gotten here earlier, but I had to get very angry about a MASSIVE storage bill the movers tried to slap on at the last minute, so I refused to pay the balance until that was resolved. Are movers of the Devil? Are they all evil incarnate? Why do they ALL pull this kind of stuff?! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to not sleeping in the floor.

So far, the only person who's not only said she's coming to visit, but given us a general date, is Louise, from England, who is threatening to visit in February. Others? We'll have beds by the time of your visit, I promise.

Albi is fine. She thinks we're camping again. House camping.

Job news: none. zilch. ouch. Send karma.