Intel...

Last Monday I had to give my final presentation for my internship. A 40 min presentation on what I did over the summer. There was a lot of pressure and hype for the this and beginning three weeks back it started negatively impacting my sleep. All this knowing that intern full-time recommendations were due a couple days before and so the presentation in all likelihood would never impact my offer.

Well, the presentation came, I rocked it, and it passed. Then I had to wait for Thursday to roll around to find out my offer. I was way nervous that Intel would come in dramatically lower than what I was expecting and it would be a deal breaker. Ashley was nervous too. I had asked around quite a bit and knew going into my exit interview that Intel does not negotiate with recent college grads. When I was finally told the offer I was on the one hand relieved it was within my range of acceptance but a little disappointed and thought I wasn't being valued for all my work experience. After a lengthy discussion with Intel about my offer and pushing on certain things and making sure I understood all alternatives, I accepted!!

I have gone back and forth on how I feel about the offer. The salary was only off by a few percent but it bugs a bit. In addition, my official title will be Senior Accountant. At this point many of you are saying, "yeah, what's new?" However, my aspirations have never included accountant and I didn't think I'd be in this role. That said, it should be an interesting year and a half. I will make the most of it and who know's maybe I will be an accountant for the rest of my life! Yikes! Anyway, Ashley and I are super, super excited!! We've loved Portland and Intel. It's been such a great summer. We are very excited to be settling down in the area after graduation in April!

This is me on my last day of work. I gave Ashley a tour of Intel's great facility despite the look of my 1980's cube.

Wednesday Roadtrip...

With Linda in town we took a drive! Sadly Patrick had to work and couldn't come along for the fun. First up we arrived at Tillamook were we took a tour, sampled cheese, ate lunch, and sampled their s'more ice cream. I felt lucky that this was my 2nd visit to Tillamook this summer.

Our drive continued to the coast.

We stopped at the smallest lighthouse I've ever seen!

 We even got to go inside!

 Maddie and Linda were racing!

 We saw the octopus tree.

 We got to play on the beach which was freezing.

 All of the kids got in the water a little. Colin accidentally fell in but loved it!

The older boys were out in the waves.

We had a great day trip!

Food carts and Japanese garden arts...

For lunch today Ashley took me to the downtown Portland food carts. It's basically a small block (four whole sides) with carts of all kinds. From a cart vending gourmet popcorn (we bought Maple Bacon) to Egyptian to carne asada grilled cheese. We split haddock and chips from The Frying Scotsman and the Pad Kee Mow at a Thai cart. Both were very tasty! We'll be back for that carne asada grilled cheese!

After lunch we headed to the Japanese Garden. Ashley was really excited to go. It was fun too see. A lot of detail was put into the garden that sits on 5 acres. I loved all the moss that was around, often in the place that you might expect to find grass.

Here are a few pictures:

Tired bods...

Due to a slight miss-communication Ashley and I ran last night another 3 miles even though our bodies we're telling us for different reason to take a break. My legs were toast and I was feeling a little off Friday morning after I rode a bike ride to work. Ashley had blisters are her feet from excising and running so much. She thought I still wanted to run and I thought she did. So we ran. Well, more like jogged the 3 miles. It was rough and afterwards we realized that neither of us wanted to. Bummer!

So we postponed the hike Ashley was planning for a day when my legs weren't jello and her feet didn't have blisters. So instead we went to Sports Authority and it was way fun.

After a long time waiting I've finally received a pass to the Nike employee store! Nike's world headquarters is just a few miles away. Ashley and I have been hoping to gain access to the exclusive store where almost all is 50% OFF! Finally we did but ONLY I can go and here are the stipulations. I've bolded the more interesting ones.

o Refrain from wearing any competitor brands into the employee store.

o No exchanges. Returns only.

o The passes are intended for guest(s)to purchase product already in stock at the store.

o Select merchandise may be available to NIKE employees only.

o No special product ordering.

o No autographs or photographs of any athletes or celebrities that may be in the store.

o No photographs of any items/products.

o If you have old athletic shoes you wish to donate for recycling, you are welcome to bring them to the NCS and place themin the donation bin to contribute to the NIKE regrind project.

So really without being able to rely on a good way to communicate and show the products and not being able to make an exchanges we were forced to spend 2 hours in Sports Authority to do product research and help me sync up to with Ashley's tastes. It was way fun!

I wish Ashley could come inside with me. It would be really, really fun. That said, I am now very excited to be able to pick out clothes for Ashley all by myself! She won't be able to say, "that's too crazy Patrick". I know, I know what you're thinking... with great power comes great responsibility. I will try to remember. I do think I'm pretty good about picking out clothes for her and after today's sync up I'm feeling pretty confident.

Running with the animals...

Last night I had the most awesome experience but because life is so busy of late I haven't had the opportunity to relish it. So I'm going to blog about it.

Due to an Intel vs. Nike Dodgeball tournament yesterday Ashley and I had to go running a little later than usual. We run on a nice outdoor track that's within walking distance of Devin & Bridget's. So upon returning from a disappointing Dodgeball loss we headed over to the track. At this point we were well into the evening and sun had long before set. It wasn't dark completely yet but just very heavy shadows. Half way into our first lap I noticed an animal on the horizon of an adjacent soccer field. The field borders basically a forest (it's a part of the park but too dense with shrubbery to walk through). The animal looked about the size of a dog and was standing at the edge, where the field meets the forest. While it was some 100 yds off, I could see that the animal wasn't all dog. It walked differently, had lean muscles, and pointy ears. I said to Ashley as we jogged by that I thought it was a coyote. So I gave it a howl-barkish call. It perked up but continued to stand at the forest edge.

Ashley and I continued our laps. We're running 3 miles now so we have to do 12 laps. Each lap as I jogged the portion of the track closest to the small coyote I'd give it a call. It would perk up but just stared back. I told Ashley that I really wanted to go towards it but she insisted I wait until after my 12 laps. So I ran faster all the while, each lap I'd give the coyote a call. Lap after lap he remained, moving only slightly but watching me as I ran by perking up when I called to him. I'm sure the other half dozen runners thought I was crazy but I didn't care and with Ashley at the opposite end of the track no reason for her to be embarrassed. So I continued, each lap surprised the coyote was still there, watching me. At points, admittedly, I did feel a little silly but who cares, right? On lap 10, half way through as I came to the part of the track where I could see him a small group of walkers were standing talking. Then as I neared he howled loudly, again and again! He had disappeared into the forest but I felt vindicated, and excited. Like a crazy person deemed sane. I wanted to yell out to everyone on the track "Boo-yah, haters!!"

In reality, people most likely weren't even aware of what I was doing nor of the coyote.They likely had headphones on but whatever. Had they seen the coyote at all they probably thought it was a dog. In my mind, they were all haters thinking I was crazy for howling every lap.

After my twelfth lap I walk down to the edge of the forest. No sign of the coyote and it didn't matter. He howled at me and that was awesome enough!!

Portastic...

As many of you know Ashley and I live a fairly hygienic life. We wash our hands a hundred times a day, don't touch public spaces, and disinfect often. Ashley used to not let me put luggage on the bed and she after coming home from nursing would strip off her clothing and put them in a plastic bag to be washed separate from other clothes.

Ashley and I had bad colds for much of the summer that seemed to morph and shift. The way I see it, we had weakened our immune system from being so "clean". After moving into a house for the summer with three of the boyest of boys and a little girl that likes to be in the thick of it, our immune systems brought swords to a gun fight. We were sick in various ways for many weeks and it wasn't until recently that we started feeling like normal.

So this weekend we did some of the things we thought we would be doing more of prior to being hit with a million and one kids germs.

We started out the day splitting the "Reggie Deluxe" from Pine State Biscuits in NE Portland. That's a piece of fried chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, fried egg, and gravy, sandwiched between their famous biscuits! I don't think I have to say but I will anyway, it was fantastic!

After our early breakfast we headed to Multnomah Falls to do a little hiking. We've been running a couple miles everyday so we were ready! We started at the base then hiked to the top of the fall. We then hiked down and hiked up to another couple of waterfalls. No pictures because I forgot my phone in the car.

It was a pretty steep hike and as it was still early in the morning a bit chilly. Ashley kept taking on and off her jacket.

By the time we reached the top both of us were quite sweaty.

At the bottom again, we had someone take our picture.

The hikes were FANTASTIC and really made Ashley and I excited to do more. I think we're going to work up to a whole day hike in the same region. We were both on quite the high afterward. It's great to be in a place with so much to do outdoors. Earlier in the week I went whitewater rafting with the other finance interns and some supervisors. It was great fun and a bit scary when I jumped off a 20 ft cliff into a narrow stretch of fast moving river to get into our rafts again.

On our way back we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican store with small well-reviewed deli.

Sweaty Ashley with carnitas tacos w/ cactus, beans, and rice.

Me with a carne asado burrito made with a house made tortilla. (Warning: if you stare too long you will get hungry). Both were fantastic!

On the way out Ashley couldn't help but get some pan dulce with coconut. Ashley would have better success eating it if she were a snake and could unpin her lower jaw. As that's not the case, a lot of coconut hit fell to her lap as she ate.

After a short nap, Devin, Bridget, Ashley and I headed out for an evening out together (our first of the summer!). Since we were celebrating my birthday it was my choice. We headed to Du Kuh Bee, an authentic Korean restaurant. We ordered dumplings, fried rice, napa cabbage w/ spicy pork, bbq'd beef ribs, and pork noodles. It was all fantastic, and despite the familiarity in the names, very different then other Asian food I've had. My favorite was the ribs and pork noodles (the noodles made from scratch throughout the day).

Behind Ashley is a man hand pulling individual thick, round noodles! So, so good!

Portland is a fantastic place! We've really been enjoying it! We're sad our time here this summer is coming to an end.

Yum...

The menu last Saturday consisted of Thai noodles and ice cream on the East side. We were able to eat dinner outside and walk around the neighborhoods as we enjoyed dessert.

 We went to Sen Yai for dinner and both choose wide noodle dishes.

Both were tasty, we liked my dish a little bit more.

 Afterwards we went to Salt and Straw for ice cream. They make their ice cream using local and organic ingredients. They are known for their quirky flavor concoctions. Patrick chose Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache and Freckled Woodblock Chocolate.

I enjoyed Strawberry with Cilantro Lime Cheesecake as well as Birthday Cakes & Blackberries.