my roommate lives

Well, my roommate is back from his adventures, much tanner -- and currently passed out on our couch. It was nice to have another live person in the house last night, even if he mostly shuffled around the house and then slept. His one revelation from the trip: ice bridges bad (especially for people who aren't keen on heights).

I visited my parents last night, since they'd just returned from a week on the Oregon coast (Astoria, Lincoln City) and visiting family in Salem. They got caught in two very nasty traffic jams on I-5 between Salem and Portland, but otherwise the trip seemed to be a success.

Since I was out there, and they have a hose, I decided that I needed to finally wash my car (it's black, but was looking more of a 'dirt gray' color lately). Of course, this is right as the county road crews decide that they want to go up and down the street for over an hour, sweeping up a bunch of loose gravel left over from last week's "tar and gravel" resurfacing efforts. I was not amused. I waited about an hour and then decided that no matter how dirty my car got after washing, it would still be cleaner than it was, so Dad and I washed the car anyway. It is now (mostly) shiny black, as it should be.