Portland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Portland

Big news! But first, here's a photo of a weasel:



I don't think I'd ever really seen a weasel until the other day, when one happened to be on TV. I always thought they were badger-like, but... no! Weasels!

Anyway, the big news is that I'm coming home for Thanksgiving!

Portland to Cincinnati 11/21/07 11:55 pm - 7:07 am
Cincinnati to Chicago 11/22/07 9:15 am - 9:35 am
Chicago to Indianapolis 11/22/07 10:25 am - 12:25 pm

Indianapolis to Atlanta 11/25/07 2:25 pm - 3:59 pm
Atlanta to Portland 11/25/07 6:49 pm - 9:19 pm

Lalalalala!!!!!

Hallowhine

I almost forgot, I have Halloween photos! You can probably already guess what I dressed up as, since I've had the same costume for the past 5 years. I think this also marks five years in a row that I've vowed to dress as Wario (my mentor), without actually making any moves towards building the costume. Maybe next year? I know I'd look great with a foot wide cardboard mustache. Alex, you're obviously Mario.



We went to greatest Halloween party ever, which I've deemed "greatest" solely because it's the only costume party I've ever been to where nobody was dressed as a sexy nurse. LIFE IS WORTH LIVING AGAIN. Ben had no costume, so he borrowed a wolf mask from Kathleen and claimed to be Teen Wolf.

Haw haw!

Corinn, Paul, and Kathleen as Mexican wrestlers

The winners of the "least amount of effort" award pose for a photo

Bjork and "Crazy Eyez Killa" Olsen, having a grand time on the stairs

WHAT ARE YOU DRESSED AS, PINK LADY??

Ricardo en Fuego fears Teen Wolf while Gum studies her scarf.

Boy, did we have a great time.

Unfortunately, Paul's intense look of concentration got him nowhere. He was, as they say, "hosed." Teen Wolf wins again!

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.

If loving a constant temperature range of 40-70 degrees is wrong, I don't want to be right

I don't think there's really been a day yet in Portland where I haven't at some point said, "What a nice day!" Fall in Oregon is what I would term "ok by me;" even the rain is strangely fine, since it gives the air that special "wet leaf" smell. And the sunny days! Monday was maybe the nicest day the entire planet has ever seen: sunny and 70, light breeze, leaves covering the entire city. In the afternoon, Ben and I trotted over to a few neighborhood parks to try and feed some crows a loaf of old bread. Unfortunately, the crows proved to be much smarter than both of us, watching us from the trees until we left, then swooping in to collect their bounty. Rascals!

Some photos of Autumnal Heaven:

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The old rapscallion himself!

These would be a lot more interesting if I weren't the worst photographer in the world.

It's been a week of many small delights. I've taken a few good walks. Ben finally saw "Perfect Strangers" and now (maybe) gets the joke when I do a Balki impression. The alternative weekly papers make me laugh, in a good way. Yesterday Ben and I split a bottle of Chimay Cinq Cents and a wedge of the Chimay cheese, which by itself is enough to make any day good. Today Paul made BLT's and mimosas and we sat around watching The Sopranos, which is how we're filling the void now that we've finished Star Trek: Voyager (they made it back to Earth, by the way. I mean, in case you were wondering.). It's a good show, though automatically a step down since it's not set in space. I'm sorry, but mafia stories can't beat black hole stories... that's just how it is.

Tomorrow I get to spend the day with Anna, and maybe show Portland my Bjork costume. And on Monday I start earning money! Oh happy day(s).

AHHHHH TOO CUTE TO HANDLE!!!

R.I.P.

Another biker was killed this week, only 2 weeks after Portland's last fatal bike accident. He was in a bike lane, and wearing a helmet... and it happened pretty close to where I live. You can read the story here, and see a little memorial to him here. He worked at the Bike Gallery (which is where I saw Colin Meloy) and helped me pick out my bike lights when I was in there. Both bikers were crushed by trucks making a turn, and both were way, way, way too young to die (she was 19, he was 31). Ugh :(

Ghost bike memorial for Tracey Sparling

Ghost bike for Brett Jarolimek (both photos are from www.bikeportland.org)

Guy Bites Animals

Anna! Is! Here! Let the Roman-style excess of food and drink begin! She landed yesterday evening, then we went over to Corinn and Kathleen's house. Corinn is "dogsitting" for what appears to be an alien, a muppet, or a deep-sea fish:

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Meet Mosie!!!

He is either the most or least photogenic animal in history:

Everyone loves Mosie!

Today we slept for a good chunk of the day, then went to eat breakfast at 3:00. This is my last week of not-working (ever??), so I have to spend as much time in idleness as possible. Anna's getting ready to go to some haunted house, but I can't go because I get too afraid in fake haunted situations... I can't stand the suspense of knowing that someone's going to jump out at me. I can't take it. Oh, also, I watched an episode of Nova today about epigenetics, and they were talking about how environmental factors (diet, chemical exposure, etc.) that you encounter now may have an influence on the health of the next 2-3 generations in your lineage. This is bad news for my offspring, since I've eaten about a pound of candy corn today. My great-grandchildren will probably be born with diabetes.

Excuse me for the Jerry Seinfeld moment I'm about to have, but... what is the deal with all these vegan chain-smokers?? It seems to be a widespread Portland phenomenon. Way to negate all the health benefits of your diet while simultaneously supporting an industry every bit as evil as the ones you're boycotting!

And on that note, here is a comic (click to enlarge):

Hello, goodbye.

I tell you, when it rains, it pours. Ben got a call today from ol' Northrup Grumman today, inviting him to come work for them. He will officially be making... a lot. (See also: roughly 3 times what I will be making.) Wheee! Oh yeah, and the job is in Los Angeles. I live in Portland. Sigh.

Anyway, on to more exciting news: I have a new mid-weight wool coat! It is basically the coat of my dreams, meaning that it is miraculously long enough in the arms. It's navy with white buttons, since I am exiting my black and red phase and entering my blue and brown phase. I might either look like a fisherman or the Little Prince, but as I mentioned before, it's long enough in the arms, so I don't actually care what it looks like. New Coat!

I went to another cyclocross race this weekend, which was held at a giant farm/forest about 20 minutes outside of Portland. (I love that you can find yourself in rural areas almost immediately after exiting the city, by the way.) We shared a 40 and had a grand old time. Here I am, probably about to tell Ben to hurry up:

The starting line

Not pictured: the Porta-Potty that overflowed.

For Alex, mostly

Finally!

Hey, I'm employed!

I got the call today that I'm hired! Starting October 29th, I will be an editor. Hooray, money! Hooray, benefits! Hooray, discounts on books! I'm happy :) I don't start until the day Anna leaves, so I'll get to spend a bunch of time with her while she's visiting -- perfect! Ben also got a call today that Northrup Grumman is putting together an offer for him, so it looks like he's soon to be employed as well. Today is a good day!

Yesterday I went for a long walk in search of neighborhood cats to play with, since I was still in a foul mood from the whole phone bill debacle. Luckily, life was good again after about 2 minutes of walking, since I saw a crow dropping walnuts onto the street from a phone wire to crack them open, then going down to the street to retrieve the delicious interior. I walked up to Alberta, did some people watching, then came down to Irving Park to relax under a tree and listen to the new Radiohead album. NE Portland is so idyllic right now; the trees are changing, it's in the 50's all the time (and it hasn't rained for a few days!) and everyone seems to be having a lot of fun. Heaven! When Anna gets here, I'll probably just die of happiness.

As for the new Radiohead? I deem it to be "good." I'm not really interested in writing a lengthy review or reading long missives about blah blah blah chord progressions blah blah conventional unchallenging blah blah earlier works, etc. For me, it lived up to the hype, and I've been enjoying it. The end!

Here is an article about Portland being an indie mecca. My city is nice!