I apologize if I mix my tenses of past and present. I wrote much of this entry throughout last week, but never got the chance to finish and post it. So…I’ve made sure as much as I can by eyeballing that I don’t get too many tenses mixed up, but eh, I’m not that picky,
The move went much more smoothly than I thought it would, though my experience with moving in the past has mostly been me taking my stuff from my room to storage in college or from one house to another. Much better when professionals are in charge.
Ooo, speaking of which, I need to email my credit card info to Beloit Student Life. They found a box of mine in storage that I thought I’d lost. Apparently it has my first Uno deck from school, a bunch of office supplies, and I’m pretty sure there’s a pair of chopsticks that my friend Ali bought me in Japan.
Anyway, so I packed up all seven computers that I have domain over, everything from my desk, all my cables, my chair, etc, and I was good to go. I felt bad about leaving at 3:30 when I normally do since there was so much more that needed to be done, but none of it was anything I needed to worry about. Old cubicle walls, desks we weren’t taking with us, etc. That was the sum total of my involvement in the move.
Last Friday night (a week ago this previous Friday, actually) Erika’s roommate was throwing a party, but Erika wasn’t interested in going. She’d had a long week and just wanted to settle in for a night of dinner and some “Babylon 5″ (I picked up the 4th season a couple of weeks ago and Erika and I have been working our way through the penultimate season of the show I like so much), but her roommate really wanted her (well actually us, not just her) to come to the party and she’d arranged it so it was on a night that Erika didn’t have prior obligations on. After a bit of discussion, Erika said we’d be there–though since she was already over at my place, that required a bit of driving. No problem, and everything turned out just fine. Erika had been having a pretty stressful week for a variety of reasons that I shant go into here (though I can say that I wasn’t the cause of her stressful week…no more than how stressed she gets having to put up with me on a regular basis, that is), but she ended up having a great time despite her pessimism. I had just a couple of beers since I was driving, but I had a good time, too. I only knew a couple of the people there from previous parties that Erika’s roommate had thrown, but that didn’t stop me from having a good time.
Saturday I found myself without much to do, both because Erika was off at a wedding and because it was raining out. I couldn’t jog, I didn’t feel like playing any games, and so I just lazed around all day. I was actually bored for much of the day, but I made myself a nice dinner and then Heather and I watched a couple of episodes of “Firefly.”
Sunday, Erika came back over and we got a couple of sandwiches from the store, watched “Babylon 5,” had Caesar salad for dinner, and generally made bumps on a log out of ourselves. Neither of us was feeling very energetic.
Monday was the big day. First day in the new office downtown. I’d been there once before a couple of weeks ago on the same day I posted my April Fool’s Day joke, so I knew how to get there, what stop to get off at, etc. I didn’t get a chance to test out my bus route Monday morning, though, since Erika gave me a ride downtown. I mean, I’m not complaining, mind you, and since it was raining I was glad to not have to stand out in the rain. She dropped me off (for those of you who know downtown Portland) right on Market Street at Keller Auditorium, and from there it was about five blocks to work. I spent much of Monday unpacking and getting stuff organized and into a configuration where I could have seven computers in my cube and not feel cramped with everything I do. After work, a few of us went out to Rock Bottom Brewery as sort of a “welcome to downtown” celebration and we had a few pints. That was a lot of fun, and we’re making plans to go every Friday from now on and catch Happy Hour at whatever pub we end up at that week.
I really like working downtown. I feel like I have a completely new job, in some ways. I’m in a different location, sitting next to different people (or people in general, now, and not stuck in an office by myself), different lunches, and so on. I’m not so isolated anymore, and I can easily just talk over my cube to the people around me. What makes it even more interesting is that we all have windows on three sides of our cubes, so we can all see each other easily, making it tempting to just look over and speak to each other instead of standing up or using IM. I can’t even hear the techs anymore since they’re 50 feet away and around a corner. So I’ve gone out to lunch every day, and now with the nice carry-all bag I have to take to work (that my Mom so generously sprang for, thanks Mom), I’ll start bringing my lunch from home. It’s nice to be able to scope out what’s in the area, anyway, so I have a better idea of where I can go and what to expect. I know it would get expensive it I ate out every day, in first week downtown, I was treating myself.
That first Monday my Dad and I went out to lunch at Paddy’s, a pub not far from my office that had so many beers on tap, by the time the waitress had gotten to the last beer on the list, I’d forgotten the first few. Tuesday I went to Good Dog, Bad Dog since I’d wanted to go there on my first day downtown, but plans with my Dad pushed it back. Free ice cream cone day at Ben & Jerry’s, too, so we stood in line to get our free scoops after our Magma Dogs. I mean, it may not have been calorically sound, but I had to wash down the taste of garlic and onions SOMEHOW, right? Right? Wednesday I had lunch at an excellent teriyaki place, much better than the ones around my old office. I took my food down to the waterfront, and I sat on a bench and ate in front of the fountain at the end of Salmon Street. After eating, I took a walk on the waterfront and listened to my iPod that I’ve been bringing to work every day. I may not be able to listen to it while working, but I still have my transit time to and from work, and with my 30 minute trip every time, I can listen to plenty of music. And get some exercise, which felt good after stuffing myself full of grilled chicken and rice. Thursday I was supposed to meet a friend downtown for lunch, but she never showed. I ended up grabbing a burrito from one of the carts and was suprised at how good it tasted. Better than Baja Fresh, better than Chipoltle, actually. Baja Fresh makes great burritoes, but the one I normally get has too much cilantro in it time and again. Chipoltle pads their burritos with rice so they look bigger. Friday I grabbed a slice of pizza from Pizza Schmizza and ate in Pioneer Square in the middle of downtown, just watching people wander around.
As for my commute, well, it’s an interesting change. I made sure to pay extra attention on Tuesdsay to the times I was getting on and off my bus and MAX so that I could time my mornings and afternoons as well as figure out my work schedule. My boss mentioned in my REAL review (and not that fake one I wrote about on April 1st) that he wanted me to go back to a schedule closer to 7-4 so that I would be working the same hours as the programmers, so I told him I’d work from 7:15-4:15. I step on the bus at 6:41 AM right outside my apartment complex, and I step off the MAX at 7:06 AM three blocks from my office building. That gives me enough time to grab a muffin and coffee at a fantastic bakery next to the MAX line and get over to my office by 7:15. I’m not sure how much I’ll like spending $2.95 every morning, but I’ll give it a couple of weeks and see how my bank account likes it. Great muffins, though. I’ve had a blueberry/apple/oatmeal muffin, a blackberry/oatmeal muffin, an apple-cranberry muffin…well, I think you get the point. And hey, since it’s not Starbucks, I don’t feel trendy in doing it. That’s right, despite my Columbia fleece jacket and new messenger bag I’ve been carrying, I’m not trendy. Hear that, Erika? Not trendy! And it’s a messenger bag, not a purse! It’s a MAN’S BAG! Full of manly stuff!
Speaking of which, the bag I finally chose can be seen at http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/200/TB0805. I chose the Black/Silver/Deep Blue color scheme. I first came across the Tom Bihn company awhile back when I was searching for a nice new laptop case, and I tucked the name away for later. I then came across them again last fall when I saw a news story about how sewn on all their care tags on their bags is the statement: “NOUS SOMMES DESOLES QUE NOTRE PRESIDENT SOIT UN IDIOT. NOUS N’AVONS PAS VOTE POUR LUI.” For those of you who don’t speak French, that translates to: “We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We did not vote for him.” There were interviews with the head of the company when the mainstream media picked up on that, and he claims that the seamstresses put that in as a jab at him as the President of the company. No matter how you feel about the President, whether it’s of the Tom Bihn company or another President, it’s a small northwest company that makes good-looking bags.
It’s tough at times in the new office, though, because I can zone out and look out the window. Since all the cubes have plastic windows in them (likely there so our boss can check up on us, we all figure), I can see right out the window from my cube. From my seat, I can see across the Morrison and Hawthorne Bridges and down a few streets across the river, and I can even see a bit of the river itself if I crane my neck. Walking over to the window I can watch boats go down the river, watch joggers along the waterfront, see six of the nine Portland bridges (and a piece of another from the other window)–all from the comfort of the 10th floor. I’m literally two blocks away from the river. There’s my building, a building on the next block, then Front Avenue and the waterfront park. It’s distracting at times, but it’s a nice way to clear your head or take a short break. I definitely feel more social than I did before, too. A dangerous combination, if you ask me. I might add, though, that my productivity seems to have gone up since I moved out of the office I had at the old location. I felt a much greater urge to goof off in there, and here I feel more obligation–or is it impetus? Either way, I feel like I should be doing more work. So I have been. As one of my coworkers mildly jokingly put it, she’s happier now than she ever has been in her life. In some ways I agree with her. This job is alright but not fantastic. I wish I got paid more money, but I’d say that’s my only real complaint now. Frankly, I used to despise getting up in the mornings and driving to work, but now…well, I still despise getting up like most of us do when we have to do it so early…but I don’t despise going to work anymore. In fact, I look forward to climbing off the train and grabbing my coffee and muffin, then making my way two blocks over to take the elevator up to the 10th floor. I may not love everything that I do in my job, but at least I’m happy at work now. Sitting in a business park that looks like every other business park around the world…well, you drift awfully close to the movie Office Space. I’ve moved a bit further away from that lifestyle, so I should be OK for awhile.
It’s a real shift, let me tell you that.
This past weekend I spent with Erika. Thursday night I took the bus over to her apartment and found that it’s now faster to get to her place than it is to mine, unlike my old office. I just hopped on bus 4, got out right in front of her apartment. Friday night some of us from work went to Ringler’s after work for Happy Hour, and Erika joined us since we were planning on getting together that night anyway. Nice to finally show her off to people I’m not related to, though she was a bit shy, of course, since not only did she not know any of the people at the table save for me (well, except for the woman who we ran into at a party last fall who was just about to start working here) but she wasn’t familiar with any of the stuff we were talking about.
Saturday was a busy day. I finally made plans with Ben, and so Erika and I set out for Corvallis in the late morning. It was raining heavily the entire drive down, and of course I-5 kicks up a lot of spray, so it was hairy in parts. We got there OK, though, and met up with Ben and his wife at the Old World Deli, a haunt from my youth. Old World Deli is a pretty unique place in Corvallis, patterned like an outdoor eatery in Europe somewhere. The floor is made of cobblestones, the ceiling is painted like a sky, all the seating is outdoor-style tables and chairs, complete with plastic patterned tableclothes, and best of all, the walls are lined with eaves and shingles from the roofs of the houses that you have to imagine surround this fictional town square. All in all, a pretty unique place. Erika and I had a great lunch with Ben, his wife Amanda, and their little baby girl Holly. I hadn’t met Amanda or Holly, so it was nice to both catch up with Ben face to face and meet his wife and daughter who I’ve heard so much about.
The drive back was a bit more interesting. We took 99W back up, so it was a bit more scenic, but my gas light popped on not twelve miles from home. I had hoped to leave myself with just enough gas to start my car and drive to a gas station later in the week, but I guess all the start/stop traffic as we got close to the Portland area took me down enough. I put $5 of gas in, which of course, only added about 2.08 gallons of gas to my car, but eh, that was a quarter of a tank. That should last me for a few weeks, presuming I don’t drive another 180 miles or so this next weekend.
Erika and I got home, and we had just enough time to joke about “What do you want to do now?” before we headed back out to meet my coworkers downtown. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but we have two offices here at my company, the main Portland office and one down south in Brookings, Oregon. The three Brookings people haven’t seen the new office yet, so two of them drove up and got a tour, and then a bunch of us met them downtown for dinner at a pricey “nuevo-Latin” restaurant in the Pearl District called Oba. The food was decent, the drinks were overpriced, and between the two of us, Erika and I racked up a bill of $63. I’m a little short of cash and haven’t yet gotten around to getting a credit card of my own, so Erika generously picked up dinner. I normally like to pay for dinner and feel bad when I have to look bashful and say I can’t pay top whomever I’m with, but Erika’s understand and has a credit card, so we kept it somewhat light but didn’t starve ourselves. She’s a peach.
Normally I’m not so cash-stricken towards the end of a pay period, but I spent a bunch of money on finishing up my new computer. I assembled the last of it last week, and it runs beautifully. All I hoped for, and the best machine I’ve built yet. I guess I probably put more time into researching the parts than any other I’ve ever built before. Next month I won’t have any computer-related expenses, so I’ll be back in the black. So here I am, back at work on Monday, raining still coming down, though thankfully nowhere near as bad as it was last weekend. Makes for an interesting commute, but at least I don’t have to be the one paying attention to the road.
I know there are things I’ve either forgotten about or glossed over, but hey, when you try and cram a week and a half or so into a few paragraphs suitable for reading that doesn’t make your readers gloss over, well, sacrifices must be made.
Back to work. The rain’s stopped, but it’s still gloomy outside. Perhaps I’ll wander over to the window and watch the cars coming over the Hawthorne bridge for the last few minutes of my lunch hour.