Not at all Friday five.

Five things I still haven't gotten used to after 16 months in Portland, in no particular order:

• Not pumping my own gas. Whenever I drive to Washington State - which is usually just for hiking - I try to buy gas just so that I can do it myself. I feel like such a girl when they pump my gas for me.
  
• Having to go to a liquor store to buy hard alcohol. I hadn't actually purchased any until Saturday's cocktail party. Liquor stores make me feel like an alcoholic and/or Maryland resident, with their "closed on Sundays" nonsense and brown bags for the bottles.
• The longitude/latitude. It was still light at 9pm last night.
• Cart-topia. This place is food cart heaven, and I've only tried a handful. Must remedy that in the coming months. Starting with this one, followed by this one (which I tried to enjoy a month ago but was foiled by their lack of veggie hot dog delivery that morning).
  
• Driving 15 minutes and being completely immersed in nature. Looking forward to a friend's visit this weekend and some hiking in the Gorge.

And also? Toxic chemicals that actually clean things, unlike those eco/people/pet-friendly substances they pass off as cleaners? Totally underrated. Believe me, I've tried all the eco-friendly cleaners and I've fought tooth and nail both the mold on the bathroom walls and the gross kitchen sink. (I owe part of that to living in a very old apartment, but in the 16 months I've lived here, it's never looked like it did when I moved in.)

In prep for said friend's visit, I finally bought this, and the bathroom and kitchen have never been cleaner. All I had to do was wear gloves and keep the windows open.

So really, I mean, what's all the fuss about?

[Cough, cough. And why does my head burn where I scratched it with the hand I used to spray the sink? Man, I hope I don't get a bald spot there. At least I will be able to see the bald spot in my shiny new clean sink.]