Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

Woke up in Eugene and had a home made breakfast of bacon and eggs and freshly made biscuits. Decided to see eastern Oregon, so headed to Bend. It’s a beautiful tree-lined drive with a river running next to it and a big mountain in the distance. Turns out it was more than one mountain, but the third, fourth and fifth highest peaks in the state, all right next to each other and collectively called Three Sisters. On the way to Bend I saw the aftermath of a horrific accident. The ground was wet with patches of snow and ice and it was a winding mountain road. By the time I saw it, it was just two unrecognizable piles of twisted metal. I was surprised, considering the condition of the vehicles, that there was no evidence of fluids on the ground. It was a sobering sight, nonetheless. A bit down the road I saw the evidence of another terrible mishap. This was a semi truck and trailer, sideways, off the edge of the road. There was no sign of life around it. It had obvi...

On Wednesday night, River and I went to visit a friend of mine in Portland. He has four cats, and River has been a bit rambunctious in the past, but, like true friends, we don’t let our animals’ differences come between us. We spent about three hours together. I used his kitchen to cook up some of my food and the rest of the time we hung out in the living room. By the end of the evening, two of the cats were lounging on the top of the couch. No one got riled up and there was no charging. The only kerfuffle we had was when the alpha male cat, a big, black one, sauntered into the room and froze in a locked gaze with River upon seeing him. River could take it for a while, but finally broke. Fortunately, I was holding his leash and we were all watching the event play out, so it was easy to circumvent before any damage was done. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with his manners. Carrots, Beets, Spicy Cheese, Sunflower sprouts, pumpkin seeds, shiitake mushrooms a...

Tuesday, April 23: I just finished typing this whole blog and then lost battery power and my computer shut down without saving it. (Command S! how hard is that?) Anyway, so I’m starting over, forgive me if I sound curt. Sitting in the parking lot in Olympia yesterday, waiting for Starbucks’ wi-fi to load, I finally called AT&T to set up my iPhone as a personal hotspot. Not only did they set me up immediately, but they switched my plan to save me $30 a month based on my usage history. WTG AT&T! River also had a big day in the parking lot. I took him on a long walk. First I let him explore all the bushes around the shopping center and apartment complex next door. Then I took the lead and asked him to heel, come stay, sit, etc. He did great. I also started working on how to approach doors. The people inside the Verizon store must’ve thought I was nuts for continually walking up to the tinted glass door and then turning back around again. They’re probably glad I didn’t come in. Riv...

Last night at the Ship Harbor Inn was very nice.  River couldn't run on this beautiful lawn as he's still recovering from surgery. I spent some time last night and this morning, organizing what I had brought so that I could leave some of the less crucial stuff in the car, but have access to it when I needed it. The man who checked me in yesterday told me that at the coffee shop in the lobby they sold the “best coffee in North America”. The beans are roasted locally and served at the peak of their freshness.  Of course, I’d be a fool to pass up on the best coffee in North America, so I had some this morning. I’m a very picky coffee lover, and I will give the cup I had a nice thumbs up. But I’d have to give some serious thought to whether I thought it was the best in North America. Today was a day of water. We saw many bays, canals and rivers on our trip from Anacortes to the ferry terminal, and then saw some tide pools and lagoons. Finally, about a ha...

This morning I went to the ATM to get cash for the trip and a woman started playing with River. While I watched them play, the machine disbursed my money and then sucked it back in, but still showed a debit on my account. So I had to have the telling make me a special credit... to be honest, I don't know what they did, but I got a new ATM card and they told me the $400 was back in my account. So, that added about an hour to an already eventful morning. To make a long morning, into a short story, we ended up hitting the road with a fully packed car by about 1:30pm. We checked into the beautiful Ship Harbor Inn in Anacortes, WA I unloaded the car into the room and realized I had brought way too much stuff. Staying one night in most locations for two and half months, it will get really old lugging all of the stuff I brought. I'm going to have to put some of the stuff I brought into "storage" in Thumper's boot and see if I can compress the rest of the stuff int...

 These were all done in the summer and fall of 2007 The Elusive Encyclopedia Entry Wherein Yellow Plus Black Makes Grey Pissy Whistling Boy Jack O Pumpkin Wonderful Like A Fox Untitled An Embarrassment of Q's The rest of these were done in early 2008. Angry Period Magic Finger Still Life Unfinished Zebra Soon afterward, I would get my first iPhone and MacBook and never pick up the MS Paint brush again.

Many years ago, I discovered that I had a program on my lap top called MS Paint. I discovered it shortly before I made the switch to Apple and it is actually the only thing about the switchover that I miss. This was my first one: Sunset     And this one was my second: Freakin Roadside Man I think those were the only times I attempted to do anything remotely realistic.  The rest are much more abstract, although they all mean something to me. I am tempted to explain each one, but I will refrain, and let the piece and its title tell you all you need to know. I will say that these next three all sort of have something to do with Environmentalism. Father and Son Thirsty Elephant Nightmare Fire Sale I'll group these next four together because they're inspired by places, real and fictional. Stained Glass Homemade   Zekeville         Tranquilico                   ...