The institutional mouthpiece of Kjel.org

If you can’t guess the things that the CEO are most thankful for on this Thanksgiving then you just haven’t really been paying attention.

It could have been a romantic first or second date for me and the CFO, except for one little thing . . .

Hmm. Not quite sure how to take this:

We guess http://kjel.blogsome.com is written by a man (57%), however it’s quite gender neutral.

I may need to butch this place up a little bit. More football talk maybe?

Tuesday of last week marked the 8th anniversary of the Wedding Of The Century (me and the CFO in case you were wondering) and last night we actually went out to celebrate the occasion. To me it feels like our wedding was about 4 months ago; the CFO would probably say 4 decades. Anyway, I thought it was a good time to take the little lady out on the town — she deserves it.

Through some good luck at work the CFO had come into possession of a gift certificate to Bluehour so that’s where we decided to dine. It was excellent, and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. I ordered the chef’s menu for myself, which actually worked out to be a great value: the CFO and I shared the cheese and dessert portions that came with my four course dinner, and she just ordered salad and an entrée. We had lamb and pork and excellent salads and cheese and so forth, and the service was exceedingly professional and the room was beautiful. In a town with as much good eating as Portland, I think Bluehour gets overlooked. But man I was glad we had that gift certificate. Even with our strategic ordering, dinner was not cheap. The drinks didn’t help the final number on the bill either . . .

I can’t believe it is time for the Apple Cup already. Thank Jebus — the CEO needs a break. It feels like a long time since any team I liked has won anything, and I am afraid that this Saturday I am going to feel the same way. At least the Apple Cup this year is not just a game between two bad teams, but a battle to determine who really is the worst team in the Pac-10. The Crapple Cup, if you will. I envision a fair amount of drinking and swearing on Saturday morning, and then once the game starts perhaps even more.

I am afraid to watch the Beaver game afterwards becuase I want OSU to win.

Somebody at the Oregonian watches the Simpsons. I was perusing the classifieds the other day and saw a dozen or so ads in the “Tree Services” section. Two, however, were prominent and next to each other: One for a Mr. Tree and the other for The Tree King. +1 to my nerdliness for recognizing the joke; well played by an intern at the Oregonian I am guessing.

The CEO is coming up from underwater and will have much more for you here soon. The last week or two has been fairly insane for me, what with the CFO’s brother’s wedding, the CFO working late, the kids being sick, my work (my employer announced a new CEO today; as you might imagine there has been some tumolt in the Kjel.org CEO’s workplace lately) and everything else going on in the world (I’m looking in your direction, Chosen One aka Pres-elect Obama). Anyway, back to normal soon.

Everyone should please remember to keep Saturday Dec 6th open . I will be there when it opens at 11:00. I hope to see all of you.

Oddly enough I have also been asked to lead a “team-building trip” to the same beerfest earlier in the week, and be responsible for the mug and ticket buying for our office. Weird how those sorta things work out. I will do my best to lead the event, but if we just so happen to have any spare tickets left over after the exercise is done who knows what will happen to them . . .

Monday already. Fuck.

At lunch talk turned (as it often does) to beer and other spiritous beverages. I learned today that apparently, if you know the right code words to use, you can buy a micro-distillery apparatus at local homebrew stores. It is marketed as either a water purifier or a hop oil extractor, but kept behind the counter — you have to know how to ask for it.

It has always been my dream to have a poker shack out in the swamp with an attached moonshine making operation (I watched way too much Dukes of Hazzard as a kid). Acquiring one of these devices would be a small but tangible step toward fulfilling a dream. Mmmmmm, white lightning. I think I know what I am doing next weekend. Now if only I could get my hands on a souped up ‘69 Dodge Charger and some dynamite tipped arrows . . .

Man, it sucks to be an adult. I really should have rioted the other night. Nobody would have expected that. Oh well — maybe next time.

Even if you voted against him, you gotta admit that the old man gave a pretty classy concession speech. And, damn it, I have to accept that his sentiments are correct:

A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to visit — to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now — (cheers, applause) — let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth. (Cheers, applause.)

Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day, though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.

Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans — (applause) — I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

- John McCain’s concession speech

I hold no ill will toward the President-elect himself, and I get the whole hey-look-not-that-long-ago-black-people-in-some-places-were-prevented-from-voting-now-one-is-president-isn’t-that-marvelous? thing, but that doesn’t make me less nervous about his policies. I read stuff like this and am reminded that winning and being right are two wholly seperate things:

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D. Toledo) whipped the crowd up before Mr. Obama took the stage yesterday telling them that America needed a Second Bill of Rights guaranteeing all Americans a job, health care, homes, an education, and a fair playing field for business and farmers.

So long as Mr. President keeps the nutjobs like Marcy Kaptur away from any real decision-making, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, I’d like it if he made my lunch everyday, gave me a new pony, and built me a shiny new mansion on Gumdrop Lane. I am afraid that there are roughly even odds of all of those things occuring.

I’d like to remind everyone that dissent is still the highest form of patriotism. Question Authority!

Personally, I’d be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.
- Glenn Reynolds

Of course I voted this year, and not just for the West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District Director either. I often have a tough time voting; very rarely are my personal views adequately represented anywhere. Mr. Reynolds’ quote above is pretty much a high-proof distillation of my political thinking, as if it matters or anyone cares.

Unfortunately I am afraid that we are instead about to see Mr. Churchill’s quote in action today:

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those others that have been tried.
- Winston Churchill

I hung up the flag at the HQ this morning before I left, this being Election Day, the epitome of America and all. And to remind myself that whatever happens today the Republic will endure and the sun will still rise tomorrow. Even so I’m nervous. I’ve got a bad feeling the country is about to make a huge mistake. I hope I’m wrong on that, whoever wins, but like I said, I’m worried I’m not.

It is easy for a certain type of person to say I’m moving to [blank] if my guy doesn’t win in the run up to an election. I can’t say that. The USA is it for me; there is no where else on the planet for a person like me to go. Until I have enough money to buy an island, anyway, or successfully mount a coup somewhere.

Chief Edumacator, remind me in about eight years to anonymously mail this to a certain Beaverton lad.