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!

85 cents does not a "sweet deal" make

If this is all there is to being a monk, count me in:

Kitties! Hoops! More can be found here.

In other news, fall has officially hit Portland. It's been getting progressively chillier, until today when it rained sideways all day and only hit 50. Hooray, we won't see the sun for months! I hear that Portland winters are "unpleasant," but whether they're worse than Urbana's (in an entirely different way) remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Ben's in L.A. interviewing for some hotshot job, and called to tell me that he was sitting by the ocean in the sunshine.

Apparently, this movie was filmed in Portland, in one of my favorite cafes (Fresh Pot, only a few blocks from where I live). Here is a still:


Unfortunately, Greg Kinnear does not work here in real life. I actually have no idea what this movie is about, though it looks like Morgan Freeman is, as usual, dispensing wise advice.

I guess the biggest news I have is that Ben bought a mustache trimmer yesterday! Ben does not have a mustache. Unfortunately, he bought it from a one-legged woman in a wheelchair on the street for 85 cents, so it doesn't exactly... work. At all. The charming part, though, was that the woman put it in a plastic bag for him so that he could easily carry his new purchase with him. A real professional! I told him that he should have asked her to write out a receipt for tax purposes, so maybe he'll remember to do that they next time he buys personal hygiene items on a street corner.

A Day for the History Books

WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA, we had an earthquake last night! It went sort of like this:

(tiny rumble)
Amanda: "Hey, did you hear that??"
Ben: "Huh?"

Baby's first earthquake!

At Age 26: Amanda watched her roommate play video games.

The other day I found this website where you can see what other people accomplished when they were your age. I can't decide if it's inspirational or depressing. For example:

At age 26:

Albert Einstein published five major research papers in a German physics journal, fundamentally changing man's view of the universe and leading to such inventions as television and the atomic bomb.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Chereshkova became the first woman to travel in space.

College dropout Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer.

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, revolutionizing the economies of the United States and Britain.

Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Italy.

British ethologist Jane Goodall set up camp in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve on Lake Tanganyika and began studying the lives of chimpanzees.

Ken Kesey published his first novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Thomas Pynchon published V., for which he won the William Faulkner First Novel Award.

Luckily, I'm only a month into age 26, so I have 11 months to pull an Einstein and fundamentally change man's view of the universe, or perhaps conquer 2 countries instead of Napoleon's paltry UNO (N. Bonaparte and I have the same birthday, by the way. I also used to have a stuffed penguin called Napoleon.) Serendipitously, I bought a copy of "V" last year at a used book sale, and was just thinking the other day that I'd like to read it in the next few months... I'll start it next, I think. A fellow 26-ie!

For the past few weeks, I've been reading "The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov," which contains all (?) of the short stories he wrote, in chronological order. It sort of brings a whole new angle to my amateur Nabokov studies, since it allows one to see just how old boy's style develops and comes to be (600+ pages of stories, so you can get a pretty good handle on it). The early stories are shockingly... not bad, but... not quite there, either. At first I was disappointed with how little they engaged me; at times it's even frustrating, because you can see what he's trying for, and it never quite succeeds. (I think he was maybe writing a lot of poetry at the time, so some of the stories are kind of like extended prose-poems where there is no real plot.) The further I read, though, the more fun I have following his development. It's kind of a blast! I'm about halfway through the whole thing, which puts me up to the early 30's (1930's and his 30's); the ones I'm reading now are awesome. Something happens around... eh, 1927-ish where everything seems to click and come together, and the stories get better and better and better. It's been pretty inspirational to me, since most of the poorer stories were written when V.N. was around my age. Even the best writer ever had to churn out some clunkers. There may still be hope for us all!

I almost forgot that I had some actual real news to report: I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW. (!!) It's for a job I actually want, too! The interview is on Tuesday, so please hold your breath all day for me.