Super-Awesome-Fantastic Sunday

(Remember, if it's orange, you can click on it...)

Yesterday Ian planned a sort of "pre-celebration" for my birthday.  First Amy, Ben, Ian and I ate lunch at the food carts downtown and then we headed over to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Industry and Science.  The featured exhibits were Game On 2.0 and Narnia.

The Game On exhibit walked you through the history of gaming technology and culture and gave you a chance to play over 150 consoles.  It was pretty rad and Ian made some 11 year old boy cry when he beat him at Bomberman.

They did not have a VirtualBoy on display or for demo, so that was disappointing.  They were such a market failure, according to Wikipedia that only 800,000 units were shipped worldwide, making them valuable.  I wish I still had mine.  I wouldn't sell it.  I'd just play a lot of Mario's Tennis.

The Narnia exhibit was definitely more intended for small kids, but we still had fun playing around in it and looking at the costumes from the movies.

After OMSI we met Justin, Richelle, Phil, Charlotte, Heidi and Jesse and had dinner at Le Bistro Montage.  It's a trendy place with a sort-of Cajun vibe to the menu.  I had linguine with veggies (chopped collard greens in pasta!) and it was fantastic.  Ian had gumbo.  It was lively and fun.

Ben, Amy, Justin, Richelle, Ian and I concluded our evening over at the Kennedy School where we played pool and shuffleboard.

Here are a few phone pictures (forgot my camera) from throughout the day:

Ava's ears are clearing up and she's back to meowing at my face until I wake up in the morning.  Yay!

OMSI also had an exhibit on fetal development (oddly appropriate).  Amy was the same size as the model cut out.

Ben, Amy and Ian going through the fetal development exhibit.  The exhibit included a week by week growth timeline with plasticized human fetuses (whom all perished naturally or accidentally according to a placard).  It was done by the same folk who do "BodyWorlds."  It was intense, but awesome.

Killing time with a coin whirly thing between OMSI and dinner.

Montage makes your leftovers into animals and other fun things.  Charlotte got a giraffe!

Amy's baby belly prevented a decent shot, so she improvised.

It was a great time.  We had to say goodbye to Ben and Amy this morning, which was a huge bummer, as we completely adore them.  I'm still recovering.  But, we will see them soon.  And in a few weeks, there will be another Nanney!  Yay!

Good night!

Product Spotlight: Viso

Ingredients: 

(Dynamo Energy) purified water, certified organic evaporated cane juice, organic concord grape juice from concentrate, organic grapefruit juice from concentrate, citric acid, natural caffeine, calcium, natural; concord grape essence, potassium, vitamin c, magnesium, vitamin e, vitamin b-3, zinc, pantothenic acid (vitamin b-5), manganese (natural mineral), vitamin b-6, vitamin a, vitamin b-2, vitamin b-1, vitamin d, folic acid (vitamin b-9), biotin (vitamin b-7), vitamin b-12 

Why it rocks:

It's local (Portland)  It has 100% of your B complex vitamins and A, D, C and E.  That's not to mention the minerals.  It tastes great (it isn't super sweet).  It's all natural.  It has   This particular kind is loaded with natural caffeine.  I know, a lot of people consider caffeine the enemy.  But, I work 10 hour shifts.  Sometimes I work 12 hour shifts.  And I have to be nice to people, the whole time.  By the way, it isn't carbonated.  So, you can drink it as slowly as you'd like.  Viso has low calorie flavors, but they are currently flavored with Splenda.  According to their website, that should eventually be switched to Xylotol or Stevia.

About Viso:

Source: drinkviso.com

Not all varieties of Viso contain caffeine.  They're intended as a boost in vitamins (B vitamins help regulate energy levels).  I like the Organic Strawkey and Dynamo Energy the best so far.  I'll be excited to try the natural low calorie options when they are available.  From the website:

"VISO was founded in Portland, Oregon in 2001. Our mission at VISO has always been to provide consumers with the best tasting and most nutritious beverages on the market. VISO beverages are primarily a vitamin, mineral, and electrolyte delivery system, and are formatted in Energy, Organic, and Low Cal options. VISO Beverages now comfortably partake in the Vitamin/Mineral, Energy, and Organic Juice Beverage segments, offering customers a unique perspective on modern beverage architecture. For most of our history, we produced the beverage ourselves at our own tiny bottling operation in North Portland. Recently, we decided to begin flavoring our drinks primarily with Organic fruit juices at the Portland Bottling Company, a much larger, Organically certified facility in Portland. Our beverages are now available in 16 oz, environmentally friendly cans, and the beverages we design and produce are light years ahead of anything else available. No other beverages can compete with the Organically fruity flavors and great taste of VISO! We are currently available in the NW, but we will be expanding nationwide in the next three years with our constantly evolving product line."