A case of the mondays

This update has been a little late in coming, since after sitting at a computer all day, I really don't feel like sitting at a computer again and typing about how I sit at a computer all day. But anyway, about this job: uh, I have no idea. It's sort of impossible to tell what it's going to be like on a day-to-day basis, and I don't want to make any generalizations because they'll probably turn out to be wrong. However:

1) I'm not sure I actually know what I do for a living.
2) Office comedies are based in truth.
3) 5 cups of coffee a day is too much.
4) They're paying me to go there, and I already have benefits, so by default I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

The first few days I really had almost nothing to do, so I spent a lot of time getting hot drinks, shuffling papers around, and trying to figure out what my department actually does. Those were not good times. They've been keeping me pretty busy for the last few days, though, so things are looking up; once I understand what it is I'm actually supposed to be doing, I think the work itself will be kind of nice. I really, really really like learning about the book industry, and I'm one of those boring people who relishes solitary, detail-oriented tasks, so the job will probably be a good fit (and the management style is extremely hands-off, which is perfect). The people there are friendly but reserved, so I haven't been able to meet too many people, but I'm hoping it will get easier (unfortunately, some of my neighbors seem to be a bit stony-faced, even choosing to skip out on the Halloween party we had during work -- which was on the clock and had a ton of food -- to sit hunched in their cubicles). The people I have talked to have been very kind and willing to help, though.

Anyway, who cares. Last weekend Ben and I went to Forest Park, which is a 5,000 acre forest reserve inside Portland. You drive through downtown, then all of the sudden you're in the middle of an old-growth forest! Look:

Forest Park, by Dolce y Gabbana

PREFONTAINE LIVES!!!


This is the Willamette River, sort of. In the distance you can see all the fall colors of the city and on the horizon is the Cascade mountain range.

I didn't take this photo, but this is Mount Hood over downtown Portland. It's one of my favorite parts of living in Oregon. I see it every day (and it really is this visible, and even prettier in real life) and I still can't get over how beautiful it is. We can see Mount St. Helens from here, too. Sometimes it spews ash! Mountains are neat.