Last Friday I spent the day with my sister in Portland. I was supposed to get there at one o'clock so we could go see some movie, but unfortunately I didn't even wake up until 1:55pm (all that eating really takes it out of you). So I got there just before three I think... I was able to find her house without panicking like I always do, so that was nice.

Let's see, what happened when I got there? Oh yes, I said hi to my mouse, Butterscotch (did I mention in a post about giving her to my sister?). I held her for a while after finally getting her out of the kitchen hot-glove my sister put in there for her. It makes a really good nest, but once she pees and poops in there... oh god, look out.

I then met the famous Jack the Rat. I've heard so much about him but I've never been able to see him. He's my sister's roommate's rat. Very cute, very friendly, very big. I'm use to mice, so it was like holding a huge-ass mouse. Unlike my mouse, he seemed to enjoy the attention.

We then left for her roommate's work (a cafe) to get a drink (I'd try to spell her name, but I suck at that sort of thing. Kernin? Sounds like KERR-NIN). The Red and Black Cafe I think it was called... probably not but oh well. We went back and saw her, she was mixing up some granola. I helped someone with their computer... we had a drink... and then we left.

Next was to Kinko's so my sister could pick up her paycheck. I got to see her office and meet some of her co-workers so that was cool. We then went to the bank so she could cash it.

Next stop was Mier and Franks and "Santaland." To those of you unfamiliar with Santaland, it is on the 10th floor (very top of the store... the whole building is this store). Anyways, during the Holiday Season the top of this place turns into Santaland. The main highlights are Santa visits and the monorail. Oh yes, the suspended monorail from the ceiling. The thing goes in a big loop around the top of the ceiling and you even get to go through this dark tunnel with glow in the dark stars and planets. So very awesome.

Unfortunately you have to be 4'3" or shorter to ride it. So yeah, I haven't been in it for a LONG time. But I still remember it pretty well, it used to be one of the highlights of Christmas time. Of course, I remembered it being much bigger and more extrvagant, so when I visited it this time for the first time in many years, I was surprised how small it was. That going back to the whole thing everything seems cooler when you're a kid. Actually, I take that back. This is still cool, and I'm fucking jealous of those six year olds that get to ride it. Why should they have all the fun?

After that... we checked out a few stores. We went into the Apple store, but they had employees everywhere looking over your shoulder and buging you. So fuck that.

What else? Oh yeah, then we went to eat some Thai food. Let me mention that it's pitch ass dark outside and raining. And the streets are packed with cars and people since it's the day after Thanksgiving. My suburban heritage didn't prepare me for this type of driving. So that was bad, but my sister fed me Peachios to revitalize me and we survived.

Thai Thai was a very good restaurant and well priced. I was saddened by the lack of customers in the building, so hopefully their business picks up. My sister and I split orders of Pad Thai and Red Curry, both with tofu. We got them pretty spicy too and it turned out to be just perfect. So I really enjoyed it. My mouth is actually watering right now thinking about that meal. Dorm food sucks.

After that we went back to her house, petted Jack some more, watched a little bit of Star Wars on TV, and then I left. It was fun to be able to spend the whole afternoon with her... I literally think it's been four years since the last time I did that (maybe not... even was that time my parents picked me up in Starbacks downtown... I couldn't drive... so... yeah freshman year, four years).

This week is dead week, the week before finals. So nothing is going on... and I'm not really studying all that much. Oh well.

So yesterday was Thanksgiving (incase you didn't know). I forgot to bring my camera from Corvallis so unfortunately I don't have any pictures. My dad will develop the pictures he took in about 2009 so it might be a while for those. The only hope really is if my Aunt figures out how to put the pictures she took with her phone onto the computer. Then you might get some. Oh well, I shall try to describe it to the best of my abilities.

Anyways so I woke up around 1:00 feeling refreshed after my eleven hours of sleep. What seems to be happening is on the weekdays I get like six hours of sleep, but weekends I make up for the lost sleep by sleeping at least ten. So yeah, I guess it all kind of evens out. I took a shower, got my clothes on, and watched a little football. Before you know it, everyone arrived.

First my mom came with her mom (aka Grandma), then just about five minutes later my Aunt Lena rolled up with MoeMoe and my sister Adrienne. Hmm what happened next? After saying hello and everything I think I started smack-talking the Blazers with my aunt. Well, not all the Blazers really, just the dumbass Ruben Patterson. We both like the current team, they have a lot of young talent and should be good maybe next year, or in a couple of years. Martel Webster looks like the real deal, hopefully Nate will play him more.

Soon, the food came. It was good, what else can I say? Then dessert came, which was interesting. My mom, in typical mom fashion, spaced putting the sugar into the pumpkin pie. So I am sitting there eating it thinking, "something is different about this pie. I can't put my finger on it... but it tastes weird." It was still edible by all means, it just wasn't your traditional pumpkin pie. Then somehow we came to the conclusion that my mom forgot the sugar, and then she was like "oh yeah, I did forget."

What else? Time seemed to be going really slow, I remember that. We were talking, but in typical Graf fashion nobody was really listening to one another. A lot of disjointed chatter, with my dad picking up one word from someone else's conversation and going, "Umbrella? Who?". MoeMoe was looking annoyed, mostly because I think she wasn't the center of attention. I just wanted to lay down and take a nap, but I didn't.

After a while, it was decided everyone should get going, and BAM they were gone. Another Thanksgiving done, the 19th of my life. I have much fonder memories of Thanksgivings of yore, like when I was 9 or 10. Everything seemed so much cooler back then (see tomorrows'(or Sunday, or Monday's) post).

All in all it was good to see both my grandmas, my aunt, and my sister. Hopefully I'll get to see them some more when I have four weeks after after finals week in early December. Kill me.

So what happened this weekend? Ohhhhhhh, nothing to note. Very uneventful.

Anyways, last night I went to the OSU Basketball game against Prarie View A&M, which is a historical black college somewhere in the South. It was pretty close all game until a run late in the second half put the Beavers ahead for good and they cruised to a 88-71 win.

I then played basketball from 10pm-midnight at Dixon. That's always fun.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Both of my grandmas are coming over, along with my sister and my aunt. We are going to eat the turkey I got from work for Thanksgiving last year, so hopefully its still good. Yeah. This weekend I hope to play football with Max, but Sid is gone (Navy) and Stephen is gone too, so I don't know who the fourth person will be, maybe Max will have someone.

Anywho, have a safe holiday weekend everyone.

Oh yeah, Blazers won last night! On the road! Wohoo!

So what did I do today? Glad you asked:

Notice the total "editing time." That isn't editing time... that's how long I took to write the damn paper (still have to edit). 517 minutes is just over eight hours... six of which were today. Basically I worked from about 4pm to midnight on this, taking a two hour break to eat dinner and watch the Blazers (they actually won, beating the Chicago Bulls!).

So yeah, basically it was hell. I had to write a report on Business Casual Dress and the feasibility of implementing it at my imaginary company. As you can see, it took 13 pages to do. I went slightly overboard in some areas, so hopefully I can get a good grade.

On Monday I went to the Beavers basketball game against Lewis and Clark. They ran them out of the gym 110-63, but the highlight of the night was Lamar Hurd's 3/4 court bomb to end the first half. The crowd absolutely exploded when the ball went in, and it got much louder than any of the recent football games (because we blow so very, very badly).

This weekend was "Dad's Weekend" at OSU. My dad came down on Saturday morning to go to the game with me which started at 3:30.

We went and tailgated at a friend of my dad's friends RV. It was fun, I got fed for free and we were able to stay dry under a canopy type thing on the RV. It was overcast and drizzly all day, but fortunately for the football game is stayed pretty dry.

Speaking of the game, it blew. The Beavers lost AGAIN and we were way up high in the bleachers with our tickets. Anywho so that was disappointing and the Beavers are going to get blown out of the water next week in the Civil War. Oh boy, can't wait.

After that we went out to dinner at El Sol de Mexico... that was good despite the 30 minute wait to get a table because of all the dads and their kids. I did get the see the Beavers punter there, so that was nice. I bet was on the only person in the whole restaurant who knew what our punter looked like. So yeah.

Today I woke up at 2pm and have done nothing. Right now I'm just sort of waiting for dinner to come, then I might work on my math homework or something. I don't feel very with it today. How are you?

Saw that on a website and found it kind of funny, being a Survivor fan and all.

I just found out that I got...

90

on my math test. I thought I got 78. So wohoooooo. Makes up for the Astronomy 77.5% bomb (will be raised to 86.5 with corrections)

In conclusion midterms are as follows:

Families in Modern America: 96.0
Astronomy: 86.5
Math: 90.0

So all in all, I'd say a sucessful week.