Can you hear the Taiko drums?

This was one of those weeks where work really tried to get in the way of enjoying a social life. Besides that, work just sucked given my favorite person in my group, Clarence, left the firm. He's going to a really great opportunity, but our group right now is really at lose ends (as ever), and I have absolute -0- motivation for work. He is trully one of the best people, so its a wonder he lasted so long at the viper pit. Just as Clarence's mantra at the end was "Frankly my dear, I don't give a day," for now I'll rely on "Afterall, tomorrow is another [billable] day" given its year end and September has overall lacked a significant incentive to work for me.

But aside all that yuckiness at work this week, we tried two new restaurants that absoluytely rocked. First one was Wong's King , a place Heather's foodies raved about and it was very yummy. (The reviews seem mixed, but we liked it.) Definitely the nicest restaurant decor for Chinese food that I've seen in Portland, and the cleanest (i.e., no MSG) Chinese food we've had in PDX. Lots of cool stuff on the menu, too: apple pear soup to start, and red bean sweet soup for dessert. Josh and I can't wait to go back for the dim sum. As an added dinner bonus, we debated the finer points of Godzilla v. Gamara. Colin and Josh could not agree, and either way Pichacu could kick both their butts. Thursday was Rob's birthday (Happy Birthday Rob!) so we went out to Axteca and enjoyed some excellent mango margaritas, followed by a trip to Everday Music (think Powells for CDs). Funny, nobody was fighting me for the new Yanni or Sarah Brightman cds. Then on Friday we checked out Montego Bay , a very authentic Jamacian restaurant -- the service was laid back, mon, but excellent and the food was awesome and just enough spice and curry mix. They had a Jamacian version of sweet tea that was lime flavored, and the Blue Mountain coffee is a must (it comes all fixed up already - sweet and creamy). We then went to see the PDX Taiko Drums with Jeff and Melanie. I'd never been to see any Taiko drummers and it was very cool (and loud). Its kind of like dancing and drum playing all in one, and they had an African drumming troupe as a guest. I imagine that it would be very therpautic to play these drums, especially the 14+ foot tall one.

Oh, and random, but my newest favorite quote is: "Buy land -- they've stopped making it." From Josh, via Mark Twain on investments.