Quickie PDX Roadtrip

Drove down to Portland yesterday, mainly to see a Hillsboro Hops game with my pal Gabe. This is the inaugural Hops season, and they're playing in this nice new ballpark...

They're the area's first pro club since the Portland Beavers left in 2010. It's only single-A ball, but still, much better than nothing. Gabe took this picture of me with Hops mascot Barley...

For the record, the visiting Salem-Keizer Volcanoes won, 6-5.

I've driven between Seattle and Portland dozens of times, but coming home today I finally stopped at some places I've long wondered about, like Kalama's Columbia Inn...

I had the Jack Benny Burger, inspired by this sign...

It wasn't very good. Then in Chehalis I checked out Yard Birds, and it didn't disappoint...

Of all the kooky bird statues around the place, this one's my favorite...

Also stopped by Portland's Sasquatch Brewing Company and Bigfoot's Burritos and Subs at Gee Cee's Truck Stop, both of which I added to my In Search of Bigfoot page. And now I'm home.
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2012: The Year of the Chickens!

In this, the last of this blog's measly 26 posts in 2012, I'll recap the stuff I've covered over the previous year, along with some things I didn't address. For starters, in February, Eliza and I installed a chicken coop in our backyard, and then brought home four two-month-old pullets: Rocky, Dolly, Rhodey, and Li'l Sweetie (above, shot by Eliza). Sadly, Rocky and Dolly succumbed to Marek's Disease, but Sweetie and Rhodey have thrived - since May, those gals have pumped out a whopping 334 eggs!

In other bird news, a day after Rocky was put to sleep, three robins were hatched in a nest by our back porch. Here are two of the eggs...

Within a day, all three robin chicks were eaten by some goddamn crows.

In non-bird deaths, in 2012 we said goodbye to the Beastie Boys and Ween, Ralph McQuarrie, and John Belushi (albeit 30 years after the fact). Also passing this year, but unacknowledged by this blog, were Matt Groening's Life in Hell, and the Seattle TV clown who inspired Krusty the Clown on Groening's The Simpsons, JP Patches... In July was I driving through the U-District when I happened upon the demolition of the UW's Lander Hall, a dormitory where I lived for a couple years in my late teens and did many grown-up, um, things, that I never done before...

Celebrating birthdays in 2012 were Paul Stanley and Muhammad Ali, as well as the 50th anniversaries of Mad, the Rolling Stones, the Seattle Monorail, the Seattle World's Fair and Spider-Man, along with the 25th anniversaries of Pleased to Meet Me and the 1987 NBA All-Star Game.

On top of this being the sixth full calendar year of the SteveMandich.com blog, I continued to maintain two other blogs -- Super Ichiro Crazy! (where the big news was his trade from Seattle to the Yankees) and Bigfoot is Real (which I just put on "temporary hiatus"). Upon the (galaxy) golden anniversary of the Seattle World's Fair, I started a commemorative blog. It was soon aborted, due to lack of both interest and inspiration. Still, I came away with this cool photo of some Space Needle models, taken at an art gallery near the Needle itself...

I visited Minnesota and New Mexico in 2012, though I didn't blog about my April SoCal trip -- in San Diego I met up with another Steve Mandich, a swell guy who's a credit to our name...

In Anaheim, my pal JP and I saw the Edmonton Oilers beat the Ducks, and the next night, we saw the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Kings beat the Oilers in L.A. I stupidly lost all my photos from those games, so here's a picture I took of the Watts Towers...

Earlier, and closer to home, I rode the Amtrak Cascades up to Vancouver, where I witnessed the Canucks beat the Coyotes in an overtime shootout. While in town, I attended the Vancouver International Boat Show, if only to see the insides of the revamped BC Place Stadium...

Here's another Vancouver photo, taken in Stanley Park...

In medical news, my Morton's toe that I viciously stubbed in 2004 finally got fixed in October -- the good foot doctor shaved away some arthritic bone and inserted a temporary three-inch pin. Here's a gnarly pic of how it looked a week after surgery...

Though 2012 was the Year of the Chickens, Eliza and I figure 2013 will be the Year of the Babies -- we're expecting fraternal twin girls on January 9! Here we are in our backyard on Thanksgiving...

Going into the new year, if I'm not blogging about it here, I'll be posting it on facebook.

As always, thanks for reading!
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Your Attention Please: Bigfoot is Real

Somehow I forgot to mention here my new-ish Tumblr micro-blog, Bigfoot is Real. I'm keeping it minimal, though I do aim to do at least one post per day. I've also added a link in the right-hand column here.

Thanks for your time.
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I Can't Quit You, Quatchi! #4

In celebration of Quatchi's fourth birthday -- it was November 27, 2007 when he was first introduced to the world, along with his Vancouver Winter Olympics mascot pals Miga and Sumi -- here's a roundup of my latest Quatchi findings.

Kicking things off is this killer Quatchi toy (above) that was posted on etsy. Other creative folks have rendered Quatchi in ceramic, leather, and, uh, keychain. I still come across the occasional Quatchi illustration, like these Canucks-themed drawings made during Vancouver's Stanley Cup run last spring. (See more Quatchi-themed art at deviantART). Less original, but possibly more useful, are these Quatchi icons of various sizes.

Over at Quatchifan2010, Sophia's massive Quatchi clan continues to have fun since moving from Korea back to Canada...

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Sammers' Q, along with new pal Mini Q, continue to cook up a storm and travel the globe on Quatch Watch. Incidentally, Mini Q is the only Quatchi I've seen whose nose is not only off-center, but also above his eyes!

I've also discovered some Quatchi-tagged posts on tumblr, like this funny gif...



And here's a video of Quatchi wandering down Bourbon Street, where he meets up with some drunk girls...



Be careful, Quatchi!

Finally, it's great to see that Quatchi designer Meomi remains busy with the Octonauts and their other cool projects.

Wherever Quatchi is, I'm sure he'll spend today cheering on his hometown BC Lions in La Coupe Grey.
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Summer of 42

Besides hitting the big four-deuce in June, here's some other stuff that happened over the summer, stuff that hasn't already been mentioned here or on Super Ichiro Crazy!... Above, we went to San Juan Island in June to visit my mom; below is this Bigfoot-looking sign at the Boom City fireworks lot at the Tulalip Indian Reservation...

Some fun camping trips, both with friends and on our own, at Washington Park in Anacortes, Salmon la Sac, and Denny Creek, where I-90 passes overhead...

We highly recommend the hike through the cool Snoqualmie Pass train tunnel -- here's Eliza at the eastern (Hyak) end...

Spider-men were out in full force at the Evergeen State Fair...

Bigfoot was there too...

The view from the top of the Ferris wheel...

Last week we happened across this bar near Yelm, with the old Seahawks logo and a wooden Ken Griffey Jr. statue on the outside (click to enlarge)...

Also near Yelm, we drove by Ramtha's compound... Later I spotted Bigfoot again, at our neighborhood Trader Joe's...

Then last night I saw the Butthole Surfers -- here's a shitty iPhone photo...

Despite all the scaffolding on our building over the summer, it hasn't dissuaded the neighborhood cat we've dubbed Chunkee from visiting us almost daily. Here's a common sight, him napping on the sofa with Webbly...

We've been having fun all summer long. But now we're ready for fall, my favorite season.
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Baseball Bigfoot

Found here.
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David Letterman Meets Bigfoot

Sort of.

Dave visits some fictional Washington town to investigate Bigfoot for an NBC show called Peeping Times. The 60 Minutes spoof lasted just one episode, which aired in 1978.
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Bigfoot Car Wash Update

Above is what "Seattle's Best Car Wash" up in little old Lake City looked like in 2005; below is what it looks like today.

Besides the new signage, they now also sell Bigfoot Car Wash T-shirts ($19.95) and hooded sweatshirts ($29.95). Here's a video I made inside the car wash from the driver's seat:



Finally, here's another "Big Foot Car Wash" I visited in Wisconsin in 2009...

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I Can't Quit You, Quatchi! #3

I'm super-delighted that Meomi coaxed Quatchi out of semi-retirement to cheer on the Canucks during the Stanley Cup final... And look! Mukmuk is a Green Man Marmot!!

Meanwhile, Dub sent me these photos of a sweet Quatchi birthday cake she made. Below is what the cake figurine looked like after her son ate Quatchi's foot and a good portion of his head...

Dub also made these cool cupcakes...

Finally, I love Harkem's Quatchi Hug...

UPDATE

Here's Summertime Quatchi...

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Bigfoot Action Figure Update

I'd like to amend my earlier statement that the only thing I like about the annual Sasquatch Festival is the poster art. I also like the Salvatore the Sasquatch action figure, released to promote this year's festival. I picked one up tonight, a welcome addition to my out-of-date Bigfoot Menagerie.

Salvatore came packaged with his human pal George -- watch the two of them together in this video...


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Bigfoot Re-Re-Remix!

The good folks at Everything is Terrible! compiled this X-rated, NFSW video from a bunch of Bigfoot movie and TV clips. Many of these are listed on my Bigfoot on Film page, including Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter, The Capture of Bigfoot, The Geek, iCarly, Little Bigfoot, Night of the Demon, Shriek of the Mutilated, The Six Million Dollar Man, and To Catch a Yeti, starring Meat Loaf.
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Stupid Hockey Shit #3

Above, Phil Esposito and friends perform "The Hockey Sock Rock" on Thicke of the Night. Below, Mark Messier befriends Gary Coleman...

FoxTrax...



Gretzky hosts SNL...

Shania Twain dressed like a Rocket Richard skankbag...

The Love Guru...



Carey Price's nightmarish Jacques Plante mask...

And finally -- somebody call the SPCA -- it's bears playing hockey...



UPDATE

Unofficial Ottawa Senators mascot, Sensquatch...

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I Can't Quit You, Quatchi! #2

It's been eight weeks since I put the kibosh on Quatchi Watch, but seeing as how today is the one-year anniversary of the closing of the Vancouver Olympics (as well as the Golden Goal), it's as good a time as any to share a few more Quatchi updates.

The best thing? Meomi just posted a couple of killer clips as a "thank you to all the mascot fans." The Mascot Reel is above and Broadcast Spot Animations is below. Both include some cool action that I hadn't seen before, like Quatchi and Miga curling -- nice!



Along similar lines, here's a flickr set I made of the mascots demonstrating the various Winter Olympics sports...

And here's a cool image recently sent in Johnson Lau; it's kind of a remix of some of Meomi's graphics...

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, unveiled last Saturday, your 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics mascots... yecch!

Long may you run, Quatchi!

UPDATE

If you pause that Mascot Reel video in the right spots, you'll glimpse some rare images. F'rinstance, this one of Quatchi playing hockey, though not minding the net as he usually does...

UPDATE

More great Quatchi deals at 17hours.ca...



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