Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Tacoma Trip

I am back from the teacher job fair in Tacoma. That was a long drive but I felt like I talked to everybody I could while there. Most were explaining how they were still not sure who or what they were hiring for but that I should fill out an online app anyway. This sounded so super encouraging that I had to take a break from it to regroup. When I was all regrouped I went back in and finished up talking to the last half of the people.

When I was done it was 3 and I had plenty of time to hit the museum of glass. That boosted my spirits quite a bit. The main exhibit hall was filled with Preston Singletary's work. Which was amazing. The next gallery was Kids Design Glass, this was hysterical. The glass makers at the museum tauhgt some students about glass making and then had them design their own glass figure on paper Then the hot glass shop made these designs based on the drawings and description provided by the kids. What was awesome was the plaque usually had some quote from the kid that made me giggle. The kids designed things like Bacon Boy (a piece of smiling bacon with a cape), Coyote in Socks, and Chupacabra Way (which looks like a little dragon with a fire ball on it's tail). The best part of the museum is the Hot Shop. They were creating some rondells (flat platter looking things) for an artist couple's upcoming gallery. It was a fascinating process and I spent most of my time in there. In fact the website says it has live streaming of the Hot Shop. To see a little more, head over to http://museumofglass.org/

As I was leaving the museum I headed up their glass walk which has a wall and a ceiling of glass made by Chihuly and a few other things by some other artists. The Chihuly Wall was filled with things that looked like vases (or bongs) and some of them were pretty awesome. A bunch of small kids kept screaming "Oh that is so cool!" at everything and that made me laugh. Of course you could see the outside stuff for free and it made me wonder about the admission price. It seemed a little too small for 12 dollars. I think that the Hot Shop made up for it some. It is kind of neat to see a working glass shop. It is used by a bunch of artists at different times and it might be why it costs 12 dollars to get in. I am sure glass shops are expensive to maintain. I do think it was worth going in to see the artwork and some new art being created.

I decided to wander around Tacoma and did so via car because I had to move it anyway. I had not really done any homework about Tacoma as I was not sure how much time I would have there so I kind of wandered around until I stumbled on an Irish pub to have dinner at. The place was pretty nice but the beers seemed a little steep. The happy hour had nice sized potions of food at a great price though so it balanced the beer price out. After that I headed back to the hotel.

I liked the little piece of Tacoma I saw and wouldn't mind moving there. It is really close to Seattle and it seems there are hundreds of suburbs surrounding and linking the two places. I plan to hit up several of the districts in that area. The trip was not a total bust, it helped me know a little more about the state and where I might want to apply for work.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Coffee, Motivation and Job fairs

I pass a lot of my Roseburg life in coffee shops. I think it is kind of strange how comfortable coffee shops are for me to frequent. I can come in, grab a coffee, and connect to their internet. Some internet services are easier to use then others but they all offer it. I tend to be more productive in a coffee shop then I am at home. Which is why I end up here so often. Sure, I can be distracted anywhere, but for whatever reason getting out of the house causes me to get stuff done. So I am sitting in this coffee shop getting some job hunting work done.

Motivation is a big issue with me these days. I want to be working but the entire fiasco over the teaching certificate has sapped my drive. I have to do everything I can to keep motivated in this job hunt. So a cup of coffee and a change of locale to get some crap done seems worth the price of admission.

I have ideas and plans floating around in my noggin. Of course all of them are contingent on this current job hunt. I have one back up plan if the job hunt ends up less then successful. Of course I am hoping that I am successful. I am headed to Tacoma this week for a job fair. I will keep you appraised of the hunt as it develops.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Roseburg Gets Indian Food

Indian food is awesome. It is flavorful and exciting. It is one of those things where you can feed me a bunch of vegetables and no meat and I won't even care. So imagine my excitement when a new Indian restaurant came to Roseburg....

The restaurant is called Flavors of India. They set up shop in an old strip mall where a former employer of mine, Dell, used to reside. It is a small place with a small amount of seating which indicates they are probably expecting mostly take out orders.

I like their food for the most part. I have visited a total of 4 times and I will discuss my impressions. The first visit I had chicken tikka with rice. I was with my dad but unfortunately I have forgotten what he ate. The chicken tikka was served over sauteed onions. The rice was a beautiful yellow color because of the saffron in it. The dish was mild in flavor but overall pleasant. It was good enough that I could easily see myself going back.

The second trip I decided to try chicken tikka masala (which also came with the saffron rice). I ordered it mild because my dad had ordered his dish medium spicy that first trip and he had whined a lot. What I learned was not to do mild. I am a little confused by this though. I have never had anyone ask me my preferred spice level in an Indian restaurant. I have always had the impression that most dishes were centered around all the flavors and not the spice level. This is not the case at this restaurant as I found my mild dish incredibly bland. I also ordered masala tea which was not as good as I had expected from prior experience with the tea. Overall this was a sub par experience and I think it was because I did not go with a medium spice level.

The third time I decided to get takeout. I reverted to my chicken tikka order. This time they asked spice level on this dish which had not been asked the first time. Remembering my mild chicken tikka masala experience was enough to convince me to say medium. The take out order did not come with rice. The medium spice was definitely spicy. In fact it was more hot spicy then I remember ever having chicken tikka. I may be off base but it seemed weird to not have the tikka flavor be more pronounced. Either way this was by far the best experience I had had.

The fourth trip was during lunch time and I had medium chicken tikka on my mind. However, the lunch menu had changed and they had gotten rid of the lunch specials in favor of a buffet. I decided to do the buffet because I have always liked an Indian lunch buffet. The buffet had chicken tandoori, chicken curry, a dal dish, and a few others I have forgotten. The food was all the right temperature and well cooked but the seasoning was non-existent. I was disappointed in the blandness of the food.

My advice for a potential customer of this restaurant. Do eat there because it is tasty but make sure you get it a little spicy and skip the bland lunch buffet.

My advice for the owners.... punch it up! I am not sure why anything would be bland on your menu. I am hoping you are worried that being the first might make you feel the need to be cautious spice wise. I encourage you to bring out more flavor in the mild. There is more then hot spicy that makes Indian food a favorite. It is rich and fantastic but yours seems watered down. It seems bland enough to not offend the locals. I will be back because I do really like the chicken tikka but I am surprised that I could apply the word bland to this particular cuisine.

A shiny new promise....

It seems I have done a proper job of killing my blog. If you have stumbled upon this entry I am amazed. You are either completley lost or a die hard looking for a scrap. Occasionally I get on this blog and vow that I will wite more regularly or add new features. I think last time I promised this I had an idea of podcasts and a new marketplace. Obviously instead I gave months of stagnation and sad, whiny thin commentary on the goings on in and around my life. I would love to make another proclamation here and now. Something in which I state new goals and directions. Unfortunatley I've got nothing.

I have been coming to this blog weekly and staring at a blank spot to type my latest ramblings. Nothing has come. I feel totally empty of things worthy of sharing. Even worse I have no opinions to share... no agendas to set straight.

This might sound like I am punching my ticket. Turning in my chips, getting out while the gettings good, or turning lemons into softballs....

However... I have decided to give it another go. I have decided to make another promise I probably won't live up to. I promise that I will get back to writing on at least a weekly basis. So if you made it throught this stupid entry come back for some new haps a little later this week.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Free Coffee!

Here is the link to get a free sample of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Just thought I would let you know about it and make it easy for you to get a hold of.

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