Everyone say hello to Milo

Milo is my new computer. He came today. He's my first new "new" computer since 2001. I got that "my new gadget will make everything in my life organized and efficient" buzz that will go away soon. Milo's main job is to help me get a job. On the side he provides a much better platform from which to blog, find the next sublet or month-to-month apartment / plan more travel (actually, now that I'm sitting here... Milo is too frickn' big for comfortable overseas travel {it's Atikins for you Milo! [smears raw meat onto new laptop]}) , write Yelp reviews, and entertain myself with DVDs from the library.

Here are the Meetup picture links from Mirror Lake / Tawanawas Falls last Thursday and from Ramona Falls / Bald mountain last Friday.

I'm going on someone else's moon hike tonight. I pointed out that a true moonrise can be seen on Saturday which is a better day for people to get there on time anyway.. but it's not my hike. Hopefully the duct tape will hold on the broken plastic bit on my headlamp.

Tomorrow I'm going kayaking on the Willamete river south of Portland with a padding club.
Sunday, maybe the Portland Symphony free concert in Lake Oswego (home of the NBA's Kevin Love!). No love from employer's yet.

Trying hard to settle

Made cookies
Gone on a group hike
After 3.5 months of static, changed the presets on my car radio.
Got a library card.

What else do people do when they're home? (Besides work, date, and have more than 26 days till the next change of address. Am already pushing those stones uphill)

Have till Oct 16 to change voter registration.

Maybe I should buy some props and juggle behind a hat somewhere.

Photos of Oregon

Last seven are water photos from Mt. Hood and the columbia gorge from hikes I did alone. When I add my photos for the hikes I did with Meetup,  i'll post those links as well.

The streets of Portland are filled with familiars

Moved into my one-month sublet around 3:15pm Saturday. After downing a couple slices of pizza on Alberta street 5pm I was walking towards dessert options when I saw a guy on the corner who resembled my friend Eric. Eric and I went to spring training in Arizona one year and also went barry bonds hr recording breaking game. He lives in San Francisco. No big deal though, half the guys in Portland look like Eric: shave head with stable, facial hair but not quite a bear, a t-shirt with some kind of ironic meaning, jeans, and a messenger bag. But this 'Eric' was standing next to Nicole! (Real Eric's longtime friend & roommate {also my friend}) Holy cow it was them

"Whassup Bitches!", I blared on approach. To which I got a slow,  "oh my god" from Nicole. These are two of the hardest people I know to schedule and they just bumble across my path. They're up her for four days looking around and visiting some folks.

Not sure if I should take this as an omen and if so, what kind? 'You will find friends easily in Portland', 'return to the Bay', or since I slotted in a 2nd dinner of Thai food with and eventually still did add a chocolate dipped waffle for dessert, 'you gonna be fat'
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Jump to Monday. I'm walking on the eastern part of Hawthorne in prime uber-portland upscale-slum-we-kept-it-real land when I walk right past Fred Armiston heading onto location to shoot a scene for 'Portlandia'.

Weird days. It hasn't rained yet.

More Portland observations

One can take the train to a shopping center within about 200 yards of IKEA.  Wonder if hipsters can get their flatpacks home with a train and a skateboard

Have eaten at food pods, collections of food carts that are part of the culture, four times and have yet to wowed by taste,  value, or speed.

Was going to post about the general standard of homeliness that prevails here but the librarian today was very cute. And not in the "girl with the glasses , hair pulled back, who never looks you in the eye" way. She was cute in the way that if you brought her to a party all your friends would say, "she's cute"

Portlanders do watch 'Portlandia' but hate to admit they have TVs

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Anyway, I am going to stay for a month and see if employers here are just as dismissive of me as there capitalist brethren by the Bay. Am letting a room in a kind of boarding house (private bath, private room, shared kitchen ). Wish me luck on daily human interaction
Will likely buy a laptop to facilitate job search without having to queue up for computer time at the library.
Money saved switching to monthly and far less driving should pay for it.

Saddest thing I've seen in a while

In a Motel6 parking lot, a Volkswagen Jetta station wagon with "Just Married" soap written on all the windows. ... and the couple was in their 50s

Of course, they might have looked at me alone in my 40s with 6 layers of dirt on my 5-year-old car and thought along similar lines.

Joke's on them though... I got my Altima washed this morning

Went to a glacier yesterday

Check out those hiking hindquarters!

This was with a meetup group out of Portland at mt. Hood. You can browse the other photos from that link. I've not upload mine yet (no i-net last couple of days. No wi-fi right now)

Motel6 tonight. The McDonald's of lodging: you know it's not going to be great but it's going to be pretty clean and it's not going to kill you *today* though doing it consistently will wear you down.