More About My Vacation. Plus 101 Footnotes!

So, we are back from our whirlwind trip to Portland1 and are now hanging out on Vancouver Island2^,3 . Didn’t really take many photos4 since I went to pretty much all the same places as I did last year5, so I figure you could just look at the photos from last year6.

Some random thoughts about Oregon:

• Powell’s City of Books is made of awesome7. It’s a bookstore that’s 4 storeys high and takes up an entire city block8 and killer prices. We may have spent a few hours in there and picked up a giant piles of books9, Incognito10, and The Third Chimpanzee11. And some zombie key covers!)). Because you know I don’t have enough things to read.
• Did you know that there is a Comfort Inn & Suites Portland Airport and a Comfort Suites Portland International Airport and that these are two totally different hotels? I stayed in one of these last year and booked what I thought was the same hotel, but then it wasn’t. The hotel was still totally fine, and it was the cheapest price that we could find, so it was all good. But seriously, Comfort Suites, why would you name two hotels that are ~5 minutes away from each other virtually the same thing12??
• And speaking of unoriginal names, why do so many cities in Oregon use names of other cities for their cities? There’s Salem13, Albany14, Milwaukie15, Dallas16, Florence17, Phoenix18, Toledo19, Harrisburg20, Dundee21, Jacksonville22, Dayton23, Oakland24, Glendale25, Arlington26, St. Paul27, Lexington28, Waterloo29, and Detroit30^,31 ^,32 ^,33. And don’t even get me started on Vancouver, *Washington*34

More About The Zombie Race

Despite the extreme length of my zombie race posting, I managed to forgot to mention a few things I meant to mention in that posting:

• I never even mentioned the race results35! I finished the race in 46:2036. Out of 2,788 competitors, I came in 1,037th place37. In my wave38, I came in 68th out of 237 runners39. That’s really not too shabby40.
• Out of the 2,788 competitors, only 438 managed to get through the whole race without losing all of their flags41. That at least makes me feel a bit better about being zombified42.
• I spoke to one guy after the race who told me that, despite finishing in about 30 minutes43, not only did zombies get all 3 of his flags, but they also got the 3 flags he got from a “health pack”44, and one flag that he saw on the ground and picked up. Picking up stray flags along the route is strictly prohibited, so I told him in as serious a tone as I could muster, “You can’t cheat death, dude. You can’t cheat death.”
• Another guy after the race was regaling his girlfriend with tales of his adventures, the best of which was “And at the end there was a part where we had to crawl through mud and there was an electrified wire cage above you and I thought I’d be smart and go through on my back instead of on my stomach so that I could see the wire cage and not hit it. But instead I ended up electrocuting my privates!”
• Another thing of awesomeness was one section of zombies that were doing the Thriller dance. Since I was without flags by that point in the race, I Thriller danced my way through that particular zombie horde45.
• Completing the zombie obstacle course race means I’ve checked off item #91 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days46 ^,47 ^,48 ^,49 ^,50!

Since arriving at the Island, we’ve been on the more relaxation portion of our holidays51. Slept in52, had a lovely breakfast53, went for a glorious 12 km run54 ^,55 ^, spent some time with Devon’s sister, brother-in-law and their kids56 ^,57 ^,58^,59 ^,60 ^,61 ^,62 ^,63 ^,64 ^,65 ^,66 ^,67 ^,68 ^,69 ^,70 ^,71 ^,72 ^,73 ^,74 ^,75 ^,76 ^,77 ^,78 ^,79 ^,80 ^,81 ^,82 ^,83 ^,84 ^,85 ^,86 ^,((100%)) ^,87 ^,88 ^,89 ^,90 ^,91 ^,92 ^,93^, 94^,95 ^,96 ^,97, including seeing a kickass thunder and lightening storm98. Other plans for the Vancouver Island portion of the trip include hiking some mountains, watching some movies, more time with the kids, some homework99, and hopefully some leisure reading100. And after that, we still have the Okanagan leg of our holidays to go101)

Did I ever mention how much I love being on vacation?

1. Well, technically to Onalaska, WA, Portland, and various other places in Oregon state. [↩]
2. After a very poorly planned attempt to take the ferry from Ancortes to Vancouver Island. [↩]
3. Instead, we had to drive through the Peace Arch border and then head to Tsawwassen to catch the ferry from there [↩]
4. Did I mention I bought a new camera? [↩]
5. Voodoo Doughnut, the Oregon coast, the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the most amazing Mexican restaurant I’ve ever been to. [↩]
6. We did take a couple of pics, but I’m settled in on the coach with a nice cup of tea and waaaay to lazy comfy to go get the camera and upload the photos. [↩]
7. I went there on my trip last year too, but I don’t think I actually mentioned it much here on ye old blog. [↩]
8. And then, because an entire city block isn’t enough to house all the books, there’s Powell’s 2 across the street. [↩]
9. I bought a boxed set of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 5-book “trilogy” ((By Douglas Adams [↩]
10. By some author whose name I can’t recall [↩]
11. By Jared Diamond [↩]
12. And why does one specify Portland *International* Airport and the other just Portland Airport. They are talking about the same airport! [↩]
13. a la Massachusetts [↩]
14. a la New York [↩]
15. a la Milwaukee, Wisconsin [↩]
16. a la Texas [↩]
17. a la Italy [↩]
18. a la Arizona [↩]
19. a la Ohio [↩]
20. a la Pennsylvania [↩]
21. a la Scotland [↩]
22. a la Florida [↩]
23. a la Ohio [↩]
24. a la California [↩]
25. a la California [↩]
26. a la both Virginia and Texas [↩]
27. a la Minnesota [↩]
28. a la Kentucky [↩]
29. a la Ontario [↩]
30. a la Michigan [↩]
31. In case you haven’t noticed this yet, I’m trying to write a blog posting containing 101 footnotes, which is item #10 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days [↩]
32. Are the footnotes getting annoying yet? [↩]
33. Note that I didn’t say they had to be “good” or “useful” or “relevant” footnotes. [↩]
34. When you are in Washington or Oregon and say you are from “Vancouver” people usually say “Vancouver, Washington?”. No! Not Vancouver, Washington! The *real* Vancouver! [↩]
35. All the race results can be found here. [↩]
36. Which would be pretty slow for a regular 5 km, but not terrible for a race with obstacles to get over/under/through, zombies in your way, 38 degree heat, and the decision to walk a bunch of the race once I got zombified! [↩]
37. That’s in the top half, at least. [↩]
38. The 2 pm wave. [↩]
39. That’s in the top 30% [↩]
40. Well, other than the part where I didn’t make it out of the race alive [↩]
41. That’s only a 16% survival rate. [↩]
42. I mean, insofar as one can feel better after being zombified [↩]
43. He used to be in the military, so was used to obstacle course type races [↩]
44. A few “health packs” containing extra flags were available around the race route for lucker runners who found them. [↩]
45. Damnit, I just typed “zombie horder” again? What is my damage? [↩]
46. Did I ever mention that I love knocking things off my to do lists? [↩]
47. I’m starting to think that writing 101 footnotes might just be harder than running that race! [↩]
48. I also have “run 3 races” as one of my goals for 2012, so I’m not 1/3rd done that particular goal too. Woohoo! [↩]
49. The Victoria half marathon will be race #2 and I’m thinking that the Energizer Night Race will be #3 [↩]
50. The Energizer Night Race is one that’s held in Stanley Park after the sun sets and everyone wears headlamps. Sounds like a blast. Also, you get a free headlamp [↩]
51. vs. the driving mega distances and running from zombie hordes portion of our holidays [↩]
52. Though we didn’t get in to Devon’s parents place ’til about 2 a.m., thanks to the ferry fiasco! [↩]
53. Devon’s mom always feeds us so well when we are here! [↩]
54. Which felt so good after all the time spent sitting in the car yesterday! [↩]
55. 12 km is usually my least favourite running distance, but today’s was totally fine! I’d been trying to prepare myself psychologically for this run, using the same trick as I did with running hills – i.e., tell myself that I love the 12 km distance, just like I told myself I loved hills – repeatedly, until I stopped hating hills. [↩]
56. Including feeding them Voodoo Doughnuts that we brought back from Portland [↩]
57. Though Devon’s sister was mostly excited by the Tillamook cheese we brought back for her! [↩]
58. We also brought ourselves back some cheese! So excited by the cheese! [↩]
59. Oh [↩]
60. my [↩]
61. god [↩]
62. writing [↩]
63. 101 [↩]
64. footnotes [↩]
65. is [↩]
66. very [↩]
67. very [↩]
68. very [↩]
69. very [↩]
70. very [↩]
71. very [↩]
72. very [↩]
73. very [↩]
74. very [↩]
75. very [↩]
76. very [↩]
77. hard. [↩]
78. Yes [↩]
79. I [↩]
80. know [↩]
81. this [↩]
82. is [↩]
83. totally [↩]
84. totally [↩]
85. completely [↩]
86. entirely [↩]
87. cheating [↩]
88. but [↩]
89. I [↩]
90. don’t [↩]
91. care [↩]
92. All’s [↩]
93. fair [↩]
94. in [↩]
95. love [↩]
96. and [↩]
97. footnotes. [↩]
98. With probably the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard in my life! [↩]
99. Including a teleconference with my business plan group tomorrow. [↩]
100. Because did I mention all the stuff I bought at Powell’s books? [↩]
101. I haven’t been to the Okanagan since I was there with a band of traveling scientists in 2006. [↩]