OK . .OK . .I'll go . . .

Every year Dale works at the Sportmen's Show that's held in Portland at the Expo Center. He worked this last Friday & Saturday in the booth that Leupold has at the show. Every year he bugs me to come and walk around with him after the show to look at stuff (I think it's because he wants to try and talk me into a big hunting trip to Alaska, OR a new boat OR a new gun OR any number of things they sell there that we can't afford BUT he will try and convince me we can do it). I usually make excuses not to go, got better things to do, not interested, I would be bored . . etc. etc. . Well, for some reason I had a weak moment this year and when he asked I said, "Sure, I'll meet you after your shift." Even better I will take the MAX so that we only have one car to drive back home. I was going to take the bus from FG into the Hillsboro transit center, but I decided to drive direct to the transit center instead (just not up for a bus ride). I enter the MAX train, find my seat, open up my book and it starts . . . some guy behind me . . is talking to himself . . LOUDLY . . about the train not leaving on time . . about his coat not buttoning right . . about his bike being broken . . and he's not really talking to anyone in particular. . . just talking to himself with about 5 other people sitting in our car . . So, I think to myself . . do I stay here or do I get on another car?, Oh heck, he seems fairly harmless, just annoying, I'll just stay. "HEY, Lady . . you with the Red Hair!" . . . I slowly turn around . . "I live in Vernonia, why doesn't this train go to Vernonia??" . . . uhhhhh . . Now what do I say? . . "Well, not sure why? but that's a good idea, I think it should". . . he looks serious . . . "the trains on time, the trains on time, the trains on time" he says, and with that I slowly get up and move to another train car, just not really in the mood for conversation. I really could give a full blog page on people that ride the MAX, each trip provides a new story. But, back to the Sportsmen's Show . . . so I walk into the show and it is packed. No economy problem here, oh my gawd! it is wall to wall people walking through 3 huge buildings looking at all this stuff. I grab a map and find the Leupold booth. There is hubby talking to some guys that are looking at some binoculars. Really, he was in his element . . he should be in marketing for that company, nobody is prouder of their product than he is of what they make there. That's why he loves the show so much. He says, "It's nice to have people come to the booth and be so happy with the quality of the product that you work on day after day in the shop. Every person that stops by has great things to say about their Leupold scopes or binoculars, and they are anxious to hear about what we are working on next". So I guess that's cool, and I guess that's why he enjoys doing the show so much. And although we walked around for nearly 4 hours after his shift accumulating a bag full of brochures to exotic hunting locations, NO commitments were made. He is being very "whiney" though about a bear hunt in Canada or Montana . . . win the lottery honey!