And now for something completely different...

... this news just makes me sad. Or mad. I can't decide which, but I don't think it will bode well.

We now pause for a moment of self-reflection.

I've spent a lot of time these past few weeks "what-if'ing." Not in a regretful way, but in a grateful way. Like the guy I dated for 3 minutes who introduced me to some sure-to-be lifelong friends... Like the job that drained me emotionally every single day, but taught me so much about who I am and what I'm capable of... Like the first time I tried squid ink pasta and didn't die.

Like...

What if I hadn't invited myself along on my horridly jealous, eventually unbearably unpleasant college boyfriend's summer road trip? Would I have ever seen the Pacific Ocean, let alone lived next to it for ten years?

What if I had gone to grad school instead of taking a corporate job right out of college? Would I have been able to visit Belize, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Seattle?

What if I had bought a house in California as I, until recently, intended to do? Would I ever leave that state?

My guess to all those questions is "no." I wasn't adventurous ten years ago. I wasn't adventurous three years ago. And here I am, in a new town, basically alone, totally comfortable, happily exploring everything and everywhere, putting myself confidently out there to potential friends and potential employers. I honestly haven't had one single moment of doubt since I got here. The last moment of truth came this morning when I bought a single ticket for two upcoming bands. Until now I haven't really wanted to go alone to a show, but this morning I realized I just didn't care, and it would all be fine.

So - gulp - I think I hereby repress my worry that something terrible is going to happen. And I hereby succumb to all you "it was meant to be"-sayers. That's right. Not only did I think it, I WROTE IT DOWN.

Aaaaaand... let the games begin. GULP.

Have a nice Friday at work, suckers!

After a late start yesterday I headed back into the Gorge for a quick hike. Let the countdown begin to the last waterfalls I still need to see.

First there was Elowah Falls...

I got drenched by the spray across and back on the bridge just to take this picture. See what I do for you people?!

Anyway, Elowah Falls is fueled by Upper McCord Creek Falls:

... and the trail to Upper McCord Creek Falls offers a nice view of the Gorge:

Next week I'm heading west to the coast. Have I mentioned that I really enjoy being unemployed? Aside from the lack of communication/interaction with others, which leads to excessive rambling about absolute minutia when I do encounter someone to talk with, it's been a lovely ride.

Less punching, more whip action. Wait, that doesn't sound right...

The sun came out of hiding this afternoon for the first time in a few days, so I did what any normal person in this situation would do - I headed straight for the darkness of the movie theater.

It was okay. I suppose it was worth my $7 to see it on the big screen, even though there really wasn't much exciting action and it would've been just as entertaining for $7 and a beer or three at the Parkway. (Note to self: go to the Baghdad. Soon.) I didn't like how they purposely cut off head shots during some of the stunt scenes - really, we know it's not them, just show long shots of the doubles already. The main plot was intriguing but all the underlying plots got on my nerves. The kid was annoying - what was with all the throat-clearing? Maybe if he'd quit smoking for a month prior to filming, he wouldn't have had so much phlegm. I'm surprised that got left in. (I'm probably the only one who noticed that, right?)

I did notice Indy's hands shaking a little bit when he was reading that letter and actively opted to attribute it to the fact that the cave was cold, not that he was old. And his snarly slur has gotten a little... slurrier. But otherwise he's still got it. And Cate Blanchett kicks ass in every single thing she does.

The best part about the whole afternoon was seeing the Dark Knight trailer. I'm still sad about Heath Ledger so I've been avoiding anything related to this film, but I watched the trailer intently and now I'm eagerly awaiting the release...

________________
People actually searching for the subject line are in for a sad disappointment. Sorry, people! Google Bimbo 365 - that'll get you where you want to go.

Early Wednesday three.

Three movies I recently watched - or attempted to watch - that I liked a lot although for the last two I can't really explain why, in no particular order:

• Renaissance: sci-fi + black/white anime + a big powerful beauty corporation - what's not to love? (I confess I never got to the ending but what I saw was brilliant.)
  
• Funny Ha Ha: the entire {insert teenage network drama about awkward kids in love who do stupid things} series relived in just 85 minutes. Now how much would you pay?
  
• sex, lies and videotape: if it had ended five minutes early, it would've been brilliant. As it was, it was much like a car wreck... a fascinating, addictive car wreck that you couldn't turn away from.
  

And and and...?

Last night I went to a comedy club in the next town. I found out about it through this singles events web site. As the hours led up to me getting ready to go, I started to dread it. Judging from the profiles of the people who were going, I wouldn't have very much in common with them. And it was far (a 40 minute one-way MAX ride). But the comedy show was free to the first 6 RSVP'ers (I was #3) and it's not like I had anything more interesting to do last night.

And so I went. Or I attempted to, anyway. I ended up getting off a stop early accidentally and walking about 2.5 miles instead of the promised .4 miles to the club. I was {this} close to calling the gal to let her know I was giving up and going home, but then I stumbled upon it.

And it was fun. The group was small, the people were nice. A few of us had some things in common, and a few of the others suggested more web sites I should check out for hiking, running and other self-interests. The comedian was amusing, for the most part. The beer was good.

And then we walked outside and it was pouring. A pair of folks who'd come together offered me a ride to the MAX (which Oh. My. God I was so grateful for). In the car the three of us talked about job searching and I got some good tips. And after an uneventful (read: no small child turning around every 3 seconds to stare directly at me until I looked at them, which was my ride to the comedy club) train ride home and a short walk in the rain I was glad I went.

And man, did I have a headache this morning. After a lousy two beers. I must be losing my touch.

And now I've bored myself just writing all this down but I figured I should share something about my adjustment that didn't have to do with hiking. To that end, I also volunteered Friday with the local version of the "old job" and that was fun, I have an interview on Wednesday for a job I don't really want but it will be good practice, I sent an application for a job I really do want yesterday (cross your fingers), and I'm making some headway on this contract work so at some point in the near future I'll get my first check and treat myself to a nice dinner.

And for lunch I had the tastiest grilled cheese ever, along with some tomato soup. That should be the mandatory meal for anyone sitting inside while the rain falls.

And so it goes, and so it goes... But where it's goin' no one knows.

Unemployment, day... ahhhh, who's counting anymore?

On the advice of my wise PCT hiker friend, I took another trip to the Columbia River Gorge today to attempt the 6-mile hike out to Tunnel Falls. I wasn't sure I could handle a 12-mile hike with my leg acting funny, so I was rather delighted to find that it was more of a walk next to a roaring creek for most of that 6 miles rather than an all-out hike. It rained the whole way there and back, drizzling mostly but now and then raining to the point where I was concerned about my camera getting soaked under the numerous layers where I hid it. So now I'm just waiting for the cold to kick in and uploading some of what I saw...

Here is Punchbowl Falls:

Here is Metlako Falls:

And here is Tunnel Falls:

And here are more pictures.

Early Wednesday three.

Three things I still haven't quite gotten used to about my new digs, in no particular order:

• Not pumping my own gas. I've only needed gas twice since I arrived, and both times I got out of the car ready to grab the pump. Now that I have Oregon plates I have no excuse not to remember.
  
• This beautiful thing called "fareless square." I've ridden the MAX train and streetcar many times over the past few weeks, and never needed to pay.
  
• No sales tax. I always pull out loose change for $X.99 items only to be handed back a penny. I'm going to have to invest in more penny wrappers.

Update... hmm, maybe I should make a Monday four and be done with it. The other thing I wanted to mention was the lack of post offices. They have these Postal Annexes everywhere, and you can UPS and USPS and all kinds of other stuff (notary, passports, faxes, copies, shredding) and there are mailboxes at least every 5-6 blocks, but hardly any post offices. The Postal Annex people are incredibly helpful, but I kinda miss the bulletproof glass and the cranky old ladies of the Oaktown postal service...

Do yur civick duty and yes...

... you CAN has cheezburger!

Q: Where's our next president?

A: Somewhere in this photo:

I swear. He's in there. Amongst the trees and the 72,000 people at the rally this afternoon. If only I'd gone with my gut and gotten in line at 9am instead of 11:30am, I probably could've also seen the Decemberists. And that would have made today a perfect day.

As it was, it was a pretty damn good day. You may now officially label me inspi(red). Or just marginally optimistic. Your choice.

Why I moved to Portland, exhibit #75.

The Decemberists to play Obama rally in Portland Sunday.

And really, isn't that enough of a reason in and of itself?

"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."

This whole post might be a spoiler so read at your own risk.

Jon Favreau's latest endeavor as a director was quite ambitious. Turn Robert Downey Jr into a superhero? Give Gwenyth Paltrow and Terrence Howard approximately 15 minutes of screen time total? Sort of kind of successfully commentate on the Iraq war in a roundabout way? Really - Favreau??

The first 30 minutes could've been done in 10, and overall there was way too much talking and not enough blowing stuff up, but in general it worked for me. The superhero scene effects were average, but all the Iron Man creation scenes in the lab were pretty cool, and when Stark actually put his arm into the CG arm, I was like, WOAH. I loved Stark's sarcasm, especially with his robots (some looked ad-libbed). And I even didn't cringe whenever Potts was onscreen. Now, that's saying something.

All this to say, I think Favreau should maybe take it back a notch and jog. Greatness is sure to follow.

But please, just stay out of your movies. Why does every director insist on having a cameo in their own damn movie?

I wonder how many people called in sick today.

I think my body has taken over for Her Majesty in the WTF department. This morning, after at least 10 straight days of stress, hard physical labor (self-induced or move-related), and overall running around my eyes popped open at 6am as usual, then closed again... for five more hours.*

So at 11am I woke up and ate, then subjected my body to more hard physical labor with another hike. I think Triple Falls is now my favorite waterfall ever on the face of the earth:


I also really like waterfalls you can walk behind. I stood here, behind Ponytail Falls, for at least 10 minutes just soaking in the sounds and sights:


Lots of people were out hiking today, given the warm (I mean, BLOODY FREAKING HOT) weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be another record high day, even higher than today. I wonder how many more people will call in sick tomorrow... My old marathon injury is acting up with all this exercise, so I think I'll hit an air conditioned matinee and leave the sun and heat to those who need it.

________________
* I had some crazy dreams during those five hours too. In one, I was on a riverboat with the guy who moved me (and a bunch of other strangers) and he gave me a half-full bottle of cheap rum, and threatened my life if I put it down or poured it out. I didn't have to drink it, I just had to hold it. In another I left my car by the side of the road on I-5 for some unknown reason and in my attempt to hitchhike to Oregon, got picked up by a semi driver who had movie theater stadium seating and a big screen in his rig instead of cargo. It was neat.

She's melting, she's melting...

Yeah, you and the rest of the left coast, sister.

Quick! Something go wrong! Please?

I was all set to attempt an Oregon driver's license and title transfer this afternoon. Getting a license required taking the written test, and because I failed the California driver's test the first time (dang bike laws! we didn't have those in Maryland!), I spent a good hour perusing the driver's manual online before heading off. I was determined not to suffer the same hilarious fate in my new state.

They only allow test-taker entries until 4pm. By the time I got there it was 3:40, by the time my number was called it was 3:59. I glanced at the clock and said, "can I still take the test?" The guy said, "of course, no problem!" Hmm.

Five minutes later, I passed with a 93% (the two I got wrong were stupid, really, things I will never ever need to know in all my years to come of driving, I've forgotten them already). The guy was impressed with my speed and score. "I studied," I shrugged, and he laughed and sent me to the next window. I got all the license stuff taken care of but couldn't do the title transaction because I needed a smog test... So after the lady said "you're officially an Oregonian!" I hurried out the door to try to hit the smog place before they closed at 5:30. I had a general sense but no concrete idea where I was going, but I winged it... got really lost... and at 5:20 stumbled upon the smog place unexpectedly. Hmm.

It took three seconds to get the certificate. They didn't even hook it up to an exhaust hose or anything. "That's IT?" I exclaimed after the guy took my money. "That's it, enjoy Oregon!" the guy said. So now I can hit the DMV again tomorrow morning on my way to run errands. Hmm.

Seriously. People.

I can't seem to get lost even though I've been here three times in my life (I have only consulted a map once since Wednesday), there are no ants in my apartment which I fully expected with all this rain, I can't seem to miss shop hours, my electric stove is awesome for being an electric stove, the cat is adjusting fine, I've found a place for everything in this small apartment, I can't even fail the bloody driver's test.

It's unnerving. If just one teeny thing would go wrong, I think I could put all this anxiety behind me. Job search, fail me now! Just for a little bit. That would help.

Until then, though - I'M OFFICIALLY AN OREGONIAN! Woohoo!

Nothing will stand in our way.

Original post for yesterday:

Haiku to Comcast.

Cable out Sunday.
Work project due tomorrow.
No hike today. Phhhbbbbbbbttttt.

I hate, hate, HATE when other people are in charge of my time. HATE IT. The good news is that it's raining right now, so the waterfall hike I planned to do today will be even prettier in a day or two...

Actual post for yesterday, which I was too tired to post last night:

The cable went out Sunday so I wasn't able to finish up a work project that was due by mid-day Monday. I was annoyed with this, because I planned to do some hiking Monday and now I'd have to spend it waiting for the cable guy and finishing up the project. Monday when I woke up it was raining, so I chalked it up to a day lost and settled in to wait for the cable guy to show up during his 4-hour window.

The cable guy showed up at 8:20, fixed the cable in about 2 seconds, and I was able to finish the work project by 11am as planned. Coincidentally (serendipitously?) it also stopped raining, so after lunch I headed to the Columbia River Gorge to do some exploring.

I didn't know much about Portland before moving here. I knew it rained, I knew there was good beer, I knew people were nice, I knew it was easy to get around, I knew it was more affordable than California and I knew that Colin Meloy paid off his overdue fines at the Multnomah County library.*

But I didn't know about the waterfalls. No one mentioned the waterfalls.




These are all within about 30 minutes of me. As are lots of wonderful hikes that I can't wait to conquer. More photos here.

________________
* When I wasn't singing this line NINETEEN THOUSAND TIMES yesterday on my hike, I realized that I've learned several other things about Portland from Colin Meloy. For one thing, that Portland was located in Multnomah County. Good to know what county you're living in. And that the bus mall really is as depressing as the song implies.

Red is the new black.

In honor of my impending new driver's license photo, or perhaps out of boredom with the dark color I've been using for a while, I opted for "dark auburn" hair dye this evening. I haven't gone red in several years so I imagine this will take some getting used to.

When I was perusing the colors, I looked up and saw yet another pair of "raven in a bottle" dye jobs on the 20-something skater/punks walking down the aisle. I've seen more jet black hair in the past week than I've seen in... well, forever, really. It reminded me of the South Park episode I "on demanded" the other night while unpacking. (Summary here, full episode somewhere on the Interweb, I'm sure.)

I think all those compounded thoughts encouraged me to go red for a change. Nonconformists, unite!

Generally speaking...

... I am pretty settled.

I've found a place for everything except my cheap cloth shoe/sweater hanging storage things and some old Halloween costumes I will never wear again. Someone is coming this morning to pick up all the empty moving boxes. All but four boxes are unpacked, and those boxes are all my little photos and tchotchkes that I can wait a while to put out, or all my desk crap. My desk area is still a bit in shambles but it will work for now.

I got the VCR to work with the "on demand" cable box (OK it wasn't really that hard, but it WAS very important - I was determined to watch BSG on screen larger than 7" last night, dammit!) and I think I've sorta figured out the "on demand" cable situation. I also seem to miraculously be able to exist on eight electrical outlets, with the help of several extension cords, of course.

Her Majesty has calmed down quite a bit and is eating regularly.

I bought three interesting exploration books at Powells yesterday after checking out the Saturday Market (which is gonna be great for birthday present hunting). I hope to do one of the hikes or walks tomorrow. Yunno, while the rest of you are at work. Haha.

And I've made friends with the local Fred Meyer, Trader Joe's, Target, Bed Bath Beyond and WAMU, three of which are a 10-minute walk from my apartment.

All that's left to do for the immediate future, other than driver's license/voter registration/car insurance, is to wonder why the hell I signed up for all this contract work with my former employer when all I want to do is plaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy...

Method to the madness.

Now that I'm living in the top green city in America (or one of the top five greenest depending on your source), I'm trying to be even more conscious than before about my purchases. Today I went in search of closet air fresheners and picked up a few Method aroma rings.

Not only are they biodegradable, nontoxic, naturally derived, kid- and pet-friendly, and not tested on animals... they're sarcastic! Seriously, the instructions read:

"1. Remove fragrance disc from package. Tear off foil cover. As tempting as it is, do not puncture disc. Fragrance will naturally diffuse through the protective membrane within a few hours. Trust us on this one..."

Now how much would you pay? (I paid $4.99 each. TAX FREE, no less.)

An actual Friday five.

In honor of recent activities, I bring you five tips for your next long-distance move, in no particular order:

• Stress early and often. This will ensure that you have thought of everything, and things will go quite smoothly.
• That trick from Carson the Queer Eyed Guy about rolling your clothes instead of folding them to prevent wrinkles? Works pretty darned well.
• If you pack your own boxes, buy twice as much packing tape and bubble wrap as you think you will need. Trust me on this one - it will save you several last minute trips to the drugstore, and you can always use it later if you end up not needing it for the move.
  
• Find a rich coworker who has moved recently and ask them for their empty boxes. This way you will have very good quality boxes and the coworker will bring them to work for you, instead of you having to go pick them up like with Craigs List or Freecycle.
• Forget that rule about packing rooms together rather than mixing up rooms in boxes. Mixing it up makes unpacking so much more fun!*
  

Bonus for those of you with feline friends... Prepare for the worst - chances are you will be more stressed about their travels than they are. And in addition to all the usual tips of putting them in one room and slowly introducing them to the rest of the place, have a can of tuna handy for when you get to the new place. Her Majesty took the 10-hour car ride pretty well, but refused to drink for at least 12 hours after we got here, and didn't eat for at least 20 hours. I was pretty concerned but after breaking out the tuna out of desperation, I took a Daily Show/Colbert Report/BSG/pass-out-from-exhaustion break last night (where she was curled up on my lap purring-then-sleeping-then-purring the whole time) and she started to consume again.

She's still pretty skittish but seems to recognize all the stuff from the apartment, even if it's not in the same place, and there's this new smell that might have some of the old dweller's cat mixed in with it, and there's this strange hard floor she has to walk on now. And she's definitely pissed off at me (but what else is new...). There's ongoing progress. Just now she ventured farther than I have ever seen her:

And maybe the 20 hours of not eating wasn't such a bad thing. She can actually sit on the window sill, whereas three days ago I'm really not sure it would've been possible:


________________
* May only apply for people who live in small one-bedroom apartments. I can imagine a six-bedroom home family being rather irritated with mixing it up.

Was it my hovering that gave me away?

Before...

Everything I read about hiring movers said you had to watch them to let them know that you cared about your stuff and what they did to it. These guys were great. I followed them around for a little while until one of them said, "so, is this your first time moving with a professional mover?" at which point I apologized and got back to spackling. He just laughed and encouraged questions/hovering.

My only faux pas was not having bottled water - just brita water and glasses. (And donuts and OJ, neither of which they ate, so now I'm stuck with donuts and OJ.) I blamed global warming on no bottled water, they didn't seem to mind after they realized I was tipping them. I guess newbies don't know to do that.

Aaaaaand after...

Her Maj is angrily blogging about all this as you read.

The mind of a 4-year old.

My [awesomely stupendously wonderful] friends came by today to help me move a desk. While the adults chatted and removed various drawers/shelves, their 4-year old attempted to play with Her Majesty.

Of course, Her Majesty wasn't really having any of that and opted to cower under the bed in fear instead. So the 4-year old became interested in the toy mice.

I'm not sure when she did this - I didn't notice it until I got home from delivering the desk:

There's an "I can has" in there somewhere. I'm just too tired to think of it right now.

Suddenly appreciative of daylight savings time.

Normally I hate it when the sun is out until 8pm. However...

The bulbs from the last lamp are packed, and it's dark. I have no light whatsoever in my bedroom, which means I can't tape up the book/clothes boxes, which means I will have to do it tomorrow morning. The moving guy isn't coming until noonish so I should have plenty of time as long as tomorrow isn't the first day in 14 months that I actually sleep past 6am...

And in another fortuitous moment, I found 20 slim CD cases on the bottom shelf of my entertainment center. Immediate thought: SHIT. Everything is packed, now I have to give these away to some starving musician. Next thought: WAIT. I haven't yet taped up the box with the CD bins, surely a couple cases will fit in each bin. Final thought: SUH-WEET.

Still waiting for something to go wrong... (Shut up - if I keep waiting, it might not. If I stop waiting all bets are off. Like Lloyd Dobler once said, "If you start out depressed everything's kind of a pleasant surprise." Same concept here.)

Occasional CCL post.

I was looking for tips on how to drive a cat 10 hours without everyone losing their minds, and I ran across this.

I especially laughed at #2. I turned an empty box upside down to make a little tent for Her Majesty, just to see what she would do. She immediately went in and poked her head out in a photogenic way, so naturally I went in search of the camera. By the time the picture snapped she was halfway across the room, suddenly completely disinterested like, "whatever, it's just a box already." As soon as the camera was off she was back in the box, sticking her head out.

Again, possibly smarter than the average bear. After 10 years, who knew.

I do not {heart} packing.

I never minded it before, either because I had so little crap that it didn't take too much time, or because I was only moving 3 blocks so it didn't really matter how I packed.

Now I have to consider box sizes and weight. Initially I had packed several dish packs quite full with heavy things, using the rationale "why not shove as much into this as possible - it's HUGE!" After seeing my former coworker's labels of "pillows" and "lamp [singular]" I wondered why they had used such huge boxes for such lightweight things. It occurred to me to look into this, and it turns out that packing dish packs really heavy is not recommended. Seems like such a waste of space, but whatever.

And so tomorrow I have to unpack those boxes and pack everything into smaller boxes instead. Meh. This is gonna totally throw off my box estimate I initially gave to the moving company. On the plus side, I'm no longer moving the desk, so the additional boxes won't throw off the overall estimate too much.

And my Ikea metal 4-drawer bin doesn't fit into the largest box on the planet so now I have to get rid of that. I didn't really like it anyway - I stored workout clothes in it, and with the mesh racks it left me looking like a waffle when I went to the gym. No love lost there, really.

And I'm going to have to throw away a fair portion of food that I'm not going to be able to eat by Tuesday/Wednesday... Might I interest you in frostbitten frozen broccoli? Whole wheat frozen pasta from last October? A large Tupperware bowl full of various packages of nuts? Previously owned Trader Joe's ketchup?

And so ends the day of frantic packing that was sandwiched between a lovely 2-hour hike in Redwood Park this morning and a bath, an episode or three of BSG, and a glass or three of whiskey starting... now! Because:

Q: Who needs a drink?
A: I DO.

Friday five.

Five places/things I never got around to seeing/doing in the Bay Area, that I'm not too sad about never having seen/done, in no particular order:

• the inside of/view from Coit Tower (though I did see from the Bay Bridge last night, partially shrouded in fog with the Bay in the background, and it was a lovely sight to see)
  
• the de Young Museum
• Tahoe (I got up to Desolation Wilderness to hike, and to Placerville several times to visit a friend, but never went to Tahoe)
• the Slanted Door, Gary Danko, Fleur de Lys, Aqua, Michael Mina, Delfina (but most of the other "musts" for tourists and residents alike, e.g. Millennium, Cliff House, Stinking Rose, Chez Panisse, French Laundry, Masa's, rnm, Scoma = check! ... and besides, the "nevers" gives me a list for when I visit)
  
• Bay to Breakers

Last night may have been my last time in the city of San Francisco for a while. That was an odd realization. So, as a bonus Friday five, here are five things I regret never doing while living in the Bay Area (which I will add to the list for when I visit):

• hiking on Angel Island
• going on an Anchor Steam brewery tour
• visiting the Farallon Islands to see the great white sharks
• Musee Mechanique
• walking the Greenwich Street steps to look for parrots