I'm in the Clear!

I am very excited! I got internet at home yesterday. Thanks to Clear. I'm pretty happy with the experience so far, although I've only had it one day.

Here's how it happened. I've been thinking about getting Clear for awhile, because I don't have cable at home or a home phone anyway, and with Qwest and Comcast you have to wait for someone to come over and set you up with the service. So, I walked down to the Salem Center mall and talked to the lady at the Clear booth. She was easy to work with and answered all my questions. She checked to see what kind of signal I would get at my house and said it was better than the one she has in her booth. I looked over the packages and decided on the $30 per month deal, which is their cheapest package. I paid for my first month, she gave me the box and I walked home with it. This took all of about 20 minutes.

Later in the evening, I set up my new internet. It took all of about 10 minutes including opening the package and finding a plug in, which was probably the hardest part at my house. I was pretty happy with the ease of setup and the fact that I get a really strong signal. Those were the two things I was worried about going in.

So, if you need internet in the next 30 minutes or so, Clear is the way to go. 

If you are thinking about going with Clear here are a few things to keep in mind:

• They require a debit or credit card for billing and pull it directly out of your account. 
• The home system is a modem but is not wireless within your house unless you buy a wireless modem to go with it.
• You can check the service at your address on their website before you sign up.
• You can choose month-to-month or a 2 year contract (which waives the $35 activation fee).
• If you move, you can take the service with you. If you don't get service where you move, you can get out of the contract, if you chose the contract route.

Andaluz - Tapas and Sangria in Salem

We finally (almost) have a tapas place is Salem! It's been a long time coming in my opinion. Andaluz is located on high street between La Capitale and the Elsinore. It's the new baby of David Rosales, the chef and owner of La Cap. I was invited to a test night on Friday evening and I think it might have been one of the most delicious nights of my life. I can't wait until they are fully staffed and can open for real.

I was much too busy enjoying my food to take pictures, but fortunately Will Bragg was there to capture the moment. Here is a link to his artistic perception of the night.

Really Salem? Really?

Okay, so I usually try to be pretty upbeat about Salem and all that is available here in our little city, but the last few days I've been feeling a little negative about life and people and everything.

So here goes.

Really? First y'all are scared of the pitfalls of backyard chickens and now you can't stand to have music after 10 pm? I listen to the cars and trucks (yes, the big semi trucks with their grating brakes and all!) every night, all night as they pass my house on the city street that just also happens to be a state highway. I listen to sirens, trains, my neighbors vacuuming at odd hours. I hear crazy people yelling at themselves, people yelling at each other, and people yelling into cell phones as they pass my window. I hear dump trucks and street sweepers. I hear cars in need of new mufflers and motorcycles that don't have mufflers. I hear it all. All hours of the day and the night. Why? Because I CHOOSE TO LIVE IN A CITY!

That's my choice. I could live in the quiet country. I could live out in the suburbs where all I would hear was dogs barking. I could live in a small village where everyone slept on the same schedule. But, I want to be close to things, have the convenience of being central, and be in walking distance of almost everything I need. You don't get lots of people in a small area AND no noise. Sorry.

I would dearly love to hear some loud music late at night instead of the trucks outside my house.

BINGO!

Confession: I secretly love playing bingo.

So now that my secret is out, I guess I should explain my bingo love a little. It all started years ago when I was living in Dayton, Ohio. Now, I don't know if you've ever been to Ohio, but there isn't a lot to do there other than watch football, drink Miller Lite, and...you guessed it...play bingo! Okay, there were a couple other things to do, but not a lot. So, a friend invited me to bingo and I went. And I had fun. And then I invited my other friends, and before long we had a little ladies night at the bingo hall going on. We brought snacks, chatted, people watched, caught up on gossip, made up new gossip...and played bingo. Sometimes I miss those days, so I gather up my friends and neighbors and rally the troops for a little bingo therapy!

Saturday night was a bingo kind of night for me. So the friends I had convinced to play with me all met up over at the Boys and Girls Club Bingo on Portland Road. We went to the Hoot Owl session which doesn't start until 11:30 pm. That's right, we really lived it up! Late night bingo, YAY!

No, I didn't win anything. Everyone always asks. Its not about winning. Its about the rituals of bingo. The friends gathered round, the bingo callers silly jokes, daubing the numbers and the anticipation of ALMOST winning.

Don't worry, I'm not going to become a crazy bingo lady with lucky tokens and a personalized bingo bag or anything. Well, at least not until I'm an old lady. :) But it is a fun change of pace for a night out.

Anybody in Salem Love Asian Food?

I do, I do! And because of this, I was recently featured in a local Salem blog that I admire very much, The Get Real Estate Blog. Here's the link to my list of great places to eat a diversity of Asian foods in Salem.

There's a Firepit at f/stop Fitzgerald

I smell like a campfire. I spent Saturday evening at f/stop Fitzgerald on the corner of Liberty and Grove. If you've ever driven by there on a weekend night, you might notice what looks like a party in someone's yard. The f/stop is built in the living/dining/kitchen area of an old house. The rest of the house is used for other businesses. It is quaint and cozy with great decor and the best patio area EVER! They are open Thursday thru Sunday and pretty much every night they are open they have a fire going on the patio and friendly people sitting around drinking great beer. Oh yes, have you heard of the new brewery in town that's winning all kinds of awards? Gilgamesh? Well, f/stop has it on tap. So, I spent the evening with friends around the campfire and now I keep finding things that smell like it. My purse still smells, the jacket I tried to wear this morning will need to be washed, and once in awhile I still smell it in my hair. And I swear I wash my hair!

Beautiful Buildings in Salem, Oregon

I was walking in downtown Salem last night, admiring the twilight sky and the spring green trees when I started to notice something. Little ol' Salem has some beautiful buildings if you take the time to look up at the rooflines. Down here on the ground, they can look just as ordinary as the brick building next to it. But look up...and see the real beauty of our town. We may not have skyscrapers, but we have quite a skyline anyway.

Here's one example:

The Elsinore Theater

From:  http://salemphotodiary.blogspot.com/

In Honor of Earth Day

I have decided to celebrate Earth Day 2010 by investing in outdoor solar lights for my container garden. When I say "invest," I mean picking up five solar lights from Target for $3 each and planting them in my containers with my other flowers. I feel like it is a very good investment and should last for years. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they get recharged and how twinkly they are in the yard.

Dirt and Flower Day at Fred Meyer

The Fred Meyer flower sale (where they fill up your pots with dirt for FREE!!) is happening on Saturday, so all you container gardeners, get out there and get your dirt! Maybe I'll see you there. My neighbor is making me get up and start gardening at 7 AM!

Spring Break, Part 2

Spring Break was just all around a good week for me. I felt productive, but I also got in a lot of fun and socializing. I finished my taxes and dropped state taxes off at the Revenue office downtown, saving myself a stamp. I dropped off a huge bag of stuff at Goodwill, and sold some books at The Book Bin, resulting in a nice little credit for future book buying. I spent a lovely, rainy evening at f/stop Fitzgerald playing trivia and drinking Wandering Aengus cider with friends.

Then I took off to Seattle for a weekend getaway with some girlfriends. We stayed at the beautiful Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle right down the street from Pike's Place Market. The weather gods blessed us with beautiful weather and we wandered the market, had lunch at Pike's Brewery, and generally enjoyed the sunny day. In the evening, the four of us girls decided it would be fun to have a few cocktails on the town, so we hailed a taxi and made our way to The Chapel on Capitol Hill for happy hour martinis. We had a great time and ended up at a little pizza joint in Belltown on 1st Ave. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the place (Hmmm. Perhaps one martini too many??), but it was delicious and made a great nightcap slice before we headed back to the hotel.

The First Half of my Salem Staycation

Since I just took a long weekend at the beginning of the month I decided to stay around Salem and vicinity for Spring Break.
My staycation so far: Pub crawl through downtown with friends old and new, Saturday morning walk with my nephew and a cup of coffee at the Beanery, a side trip to Portland for a manicure and dinner at Pambiche (awesome Cuban tapas!), lunch with friends at Sushi Kyo, a night at my personal hotel in Willamina with my good college friend, breakfast at the Casino and whale watching in Depoe Bay, Happy Hour at Boon's with friends, housecleaning which resulted in a giant bag of donations for Goodwill, and today I'm working on taxes.
Whew! I think I need a nap now.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A Neighborhood Harvest in Salem

I was contacted recently through the neighborhood association about a new project called Neighborhood Harvest of Salem. I think this sounds so cool!

Basically, people sign up their fruit trees or gardens if they have more than they can harvest, and then volunteers organize a harvest party to pick the fruit. Much of the harvest is donated to Marion-Polk Food Share and the rest is split among the volunteers.

What a great way to have fresh, local fruits and veggies at the food bank! Plus, all those extra cherries on that tree in your backyard can be split among people in the community. And you won't end up with a tummy ache. Win-win, I say.

Look What I Won!

I was so excited to hear that I won this necklace on the salemites.com contest! I love Jessica's designs and I was excited to get one with our own gold man on it.

Boon's: My Local Bar

Boon's Treasury on odd little corner of High and Liberty has a lot going for it. It's got the best patio in town, good happy hour, yummy microbrews, and a wood stove for cold evenings.

But there are some other things that make Boon's a great hangout too. I have discovered that they have free Wi-fi and on less busy days, like Monday nights, they are happy to let you sit and work on homework for hours while sipping a beer and munching on some Cajun tots. At the end of a long term, coffee shops can start to feel a little redundant and since Boon's is walking distance from my house, it has become a my new favorite alternative.

And, miracle of miracles, I actually finished my homework before the midnight deadline! I think the beer really helped.

New Decor at Love Love Teriyaki

Love Love got a makeover! I stopped by the Love Love Teriyaki (near the Fred Meyer North) yesterday and saw that they have new booths. They still have mostly tables and chairs, but now they have added booths along the one wall. It looks really cozy and nice. They also had new menus on the wall behind the counter and a giant flat screen TV scrolling through pictures of their food items. It looks really nice and classy. AND...they still have the same great food. Mmm, I love love me some Love Love!

I would have taken pictures, but I locked my camera in my car along with my keys, so I was more worried about getting that taken care of than my photographic responsibilities. Sorry!