I write about myself because I can.

Monthly archives for September, 2005

Midweek notes

Sep21
2005 Written by Andrew

I can think of few things that rank lower on my list of things not to do on a Sunday morning besides getting up at 5:15 AM as I did yesterday, but I knew it was for a good cause and so I did it (mostly) willingly. I got up, showered, shaved, and got into my running gear. By the time Erika got up and got her stuff together, it was around 6 AM, so we took off to her place so she could grab her running gear. We had originally planned to stay at her place Saturday night since it was closer to the race, but neither of us particularly wanted to drive over there Saturday night, so instead we crashed at my place and got up a bit earlier.

We parked just off Hawthorne and took bus 14 downtown, and since we were a little early, we mosied about and marvelled at the size of the crowd. It turned out that about 45,000 people had showed up for the 2005 Race for the Cure activities on the waterfront, a record for Portland. We stretched, we bounced, we bent our knees, we laughed at the people doing aerobics to warm up (to what sounded like either Michael Jackson or sped-up Justin Timberlake, we couldn’t be certain), and we waited for the countdown.

At 7:30, the horn blew and the two dozen (thousand) people milling about on Front Avenue took off up Taylor Street. The route we took was a prettty good one, actually. For those familar with Portland, we went up Taylor, then north on Broadway, east across the Burnside Bridge, south on MLK, looped back around to the Burnside Bridge, then looped back around to Front for the finish. A nice clean 5k run without too much climbing involved. I was a bit aprehensive about the jog up Taylor since it was uphill, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it easier than I thought. What I hadn’t remembered, however, is that Burnside goes downhill from Broadway to the waterfront, then it’s a climb all the way to the middle of the bridge. That was a tough climb. It was fairly long, it was steady, and I was trying to keep a good pace to keep up with the other runners.

As I crossed the Burnside Bridge, the professional runners were already crossing back going the the other direction, which meant they were perhaps a mile ahead of me. No worries, there wasn’t any way I could have kept up with them, anyway. It was only about a half-dozen or so of them. I had looked at some of the previous years’ race results, and the top ten had all finished around 15:30, meaning they were doing five minute miles. If I were racing for a mile, I might be able to hit 6:30 or less if I practiced for a couple of weeks, but most of the time I’m content at a nice, slow, 10-minute mile geared personally for distance rather than speed. I did take pleasure in seeing a good portion of people still going east across the Burnside Bridge as I went west, much like how I’d seen the pro runners a mile back.

As I turned onto the final stretch of the run along Front (ahem, Naito Parkway if you want me to be politically correct) I gave it everything I had left and passed perhaps a dozen or more runners on the run to the finish line. I have no idea what my time was, though since they started the 8 AM 1-mile walk a few minutes after I finished, I must assume that I broke the 30-minute mark and was doing maybe 8- or 9-minute miles. Not bad for me, really. I estimate given my time that I finished perhaps in the top 1/3, maybe top 1/2 of all the runners, though the full race results haven’t been posted online yet for me to check. Erika and I knew that we weren’t going to jog together since my regular pace is so much faster than her regular pace, plus she was a bit concerned that she wouldn’t be able to jog the whole way and would have to walk part of it. I’m happy to report, however, that Erika jogged the entire distance and didn’t have to stop once. It may not have been at my pace, but she did it. I was very proud of her, especially since that was the first time she’d made the whole 5k distance. She did it when it counted, though, and so that’s all that matters.

After the race, I stood around where Erika and I had decided to meet up afterwards, sipping a bottle of water. I kept seeing smoke in the crowd, but I couldn’t figure out where it was comin from until I realized it was me that was smoking. I was sweating so hard and it was cold enough out that I was literally steaming from my hair and face. I saw a couple of other runners doing the same, so I knew it wasn’t just me. It was quite surreal. I had a good morning, though. I had jogged a shorter distance than the last time I went on Thursday, but I had put more into it between the changing terrain and the best-I-could-sprint down Front. My thighs still ache a bit.

So…anyone up for the 5-mile run that takes place during the Portland Marathon next month?

All in all, we both did well. We took the bus back and got her car, showered and changed at her place, and then had a yummy breakfast at the Detour Cafe on Division. It was almost 11 AM at that point, and we were both ready for naps. I was going to take the bus home, but Burnside was still closed and I didn’t know how bus 20 (the line I needed to get home) was being handled, even as far away as Beaverton. Since Erika had to go back to Old Navy to exchange a sweater, she most generously drove me home, instead. We took the opportunity to stop by my new place, even just to look at it from the outside, and she was quite impressed. She’ll be more impressed when she sees the inside, though.

Saturday night was the first time that my family and Erika’s family had gotten together, and so the eight of us (myself, Erika, Erika’s Mom, Erika’s Dad, my Dad, my Mom, Cindy, Heather, and my grandmother) all met at the John Barleycorn’s McMenamins in Tualatin for dinner. It went a lot better than it could have, knowing my family dynamics, and it was nice for everyone to finally meet. Of course, McMenamins is always a welcome venue for me, also.

I’ve started the process of things I’ll need to do to move into my new apartment already, which is probably for the best since two weeks from now, I’m hoping to be all settled into my new place–that’s right, my move-in date is 10/1. I scheduled electricity service to begin on 10/1 and natural gas to start on 9/30, and I’m going to give my downstairs neighbor a call to see if she’d be willing to split the cost of Internet service to share wirelessly. I ordered DSL service through Qwest since they’re running a nice $25/month for an entire year promotion for DSL service, and I don’t have to even have local phone service running. Oddly, the price of DSL through Qwest is actually cheaper than the price of dialup service, since in order to do that I’d have to pay for local service, too. I’m going all cellular.

I decided against cable for the time being, though, both television and Internet. Cable Internet, while very fast, is pretty pricey, and Comcast keeps bumping up the speed but hasn’t lowered the prices one penny except for short promotions. Why would I want 6Mb/sec service at the same price you offered for 4Mb/sec service a year ago? Give me 1.5 Mb/sec for half the price, dammit! I’m a bit disappointed at losing cable television, but for the first couple of months, at least, I need to watch my finances and see how well I do. I can buy a pair of rabbit ears for reception, and honestly, I’ll get better reception with those watching the local channels than I do now watching them over cable. I had my TiVo record the pilot episode of “How I Married Your Mother” the other night, and it was essentially static. I missed all the reruns of “Lost” for the same reason, and even NBC is starting to be static more than usual.

I need to change my address everywhere, too. In the next two weeks I’ll have to go shopping for a few things, though, including a bed and linens, a dining table and chairs, and miscellaneous things that I’ll need for msyelf. Amee (the woman giving up the apartment) will be out starting next Monday or Tuesday, so next week I can begin moving things over there. I’ll probably take stuff I don’t use all the time over first–glassware and miscellaneous stuff from my closet, a few of my kitchen things, and other things I can live without for the rest of the week. Enough to save room is whatever vehicle(s) I move the bulk of the stuff in, enough to get started on making things easier to deal with the rest of the week and the weekend. Ug, I need to start packing, too…. I’m not looking forward to that last one.

Last night I rode my bike out to my Mom’s house again, finished up her computer, and then rode back before it could get too dark. I discovered, though, that what I currently possess in distance while cycling I lack in intensity, as I found I didn’t have the strength to climb what I saw as a relatively easy hill on the way back. My legs just couldn’t take any more, and given that it was dusk and I didn’t want to switch to such a low gear that I would be wobbling while climbing and I certainly couldn’t switchback on the road, I hopped off my bike and walked about 50 yards or so of what I couldn’t climb on two wheels. Granted, I was also towards the end of a 17-mile roundtrip ride, but I felt like I should have been able to ride up it. I know I would have been able to jog up it.

Today I discovered a great place two blocks from my office called Salad World. They have a pretty big salad buffet with lots of toppings and dressings, plus some non-salad things like pot stickers, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, and pasta, and everything is all the same price per pound. I had a decent salad with a few pieces of teriyaki chicken, a couple of potstickers, a Coke, and even a few strawberries for just over $7. It’s a good addition to my list of places I currently frequent downtown.

So that’s about where things stand for now. I’m getting closer to my move-in date, but I still have a lot left to do. Have a good rest of the week.

Posted in Erika, Food, General

A bit of very good news

Sep15
2005 Written by Andrew

So…I’ve found an apartment for myself.

After what I would consider to be an extensive search that included touring six different apartments that met my initial criteria (well, five actually, one was on a lark because I happened to be going there, anyway) and wading through hundreds of listings that didn’t meet my criteria, I finally found a place that met every single requirement I had:

-It must be on a major bus line
-It must be a spacious one-bedroom (more than 600 square feet) or a two-bedroom unit
-It must have a full kitchen, not shared (i.e., like living in a house with roommates) or a kitchenette
-It must have all utilities except electricity paid for
-It must be in a “nice” neighborhood
-It mustn’t be in a large complex with dozens of other tenants
-It mustn’t be on certain roads (Powell Blvd, for one, Burnside for another) unless it’s a few blocks off the main way
-It mustn’t be further east than SE 50th
-It mustn’t be further south than the Sellwood bridge
-It mustn’t be further north than N Alberta
-It mustn’t be further west than NW 23rd Ave.

Those were the basics I was looking for. The “nice” neighborhood is always subjective, of course, but I knew the areas I was looking for. Mainly I was concerned with commute time as well as biking/walking distance to things I want to be able to do in the area I’m in. It doesn’t do me any good if I’m working downtown, the places I like to go are in SE Portland, and I’m living out by Mall 205 or Clackamas Town Center.

I was also looking for a certain “charm” that is also subjective. That’s one reason I didn’t want to live in a complex with dozens of other tenants, since all the units are alike, both inside and out. Erika lives in an 8-unit complex, and that’s about as many as I would consider, small enough that you can recognize everyone and know people’s names. Someplace that’s not just a filing cabinet for people, but a place that’s not your everday run-of-the-mill type of place. The type of place that when someone sees it for the first time, the first thing they say is “Wow.” I was willing to forego that last one if necessary, but that would have made my ideal apartment if I could meet all my criteria and still get that “Wow” factor from first-time vistors.

Also, this is assuming that the “Wow” comment isn’t followed by “what a piece of crap.”

The ultimate charm and uniqueness for me is, of course, a building that’s not an apartment at all…unless you manage to find a house that’s been turned into apartments. And that’s what I found. The house was built in1914 and originally was a boarding house, and when the current owner bought it in 1987 (for a sickenly low price you don’t even want to hear…but let’s just say that it’s commiserate with the price of a low-end luxury car nowadays) he took great pains in turning it into what it is today.

There are only two units in the house, one on the main floor and mine on the upper floor. I haven’t met the main floor tenant yet, but I was told she’s a bartender at a restaurant in North Portland. There’s a staircase that leads up from the main hallway to a pair of doors on the upper landing, one leads to one of the bedrooms, the other to the main area of the unit. The large carpeted main area leads into the kitchen/dining area, plus two bedrooms. One is fairly large and faces the street, and the other is a bit smaller, but large enough that the current tenant uses it as her main bedroom. The bathroom is tiny, but has an old-style standing sink and a clawfoot tub with a wrap-around shower curtain. The windows in both the kitchen and bathroom look out over the back yard of the house.

The kitchen has a sink and surface that were installed about five years ago and are in excellent shape, there’s a small-ish fridge, and while I don’t get a dishwasher I do get a gas range. Plenty of storage room in the cabinets, and a previous tenant added hooks for hanging kitchen items above the sink.

There are two closets in the apartment, both are lighted walk-in closets with huge amounts of space.

The basement of the house is available for use as storage, and it also houses a washer and dryer that belong to the other tenant of the house. The woman who’s vacating the apartment I’ll be moving into says she worked out a deal with the woman and pays her something like $10/month to use them, which suits me just fine if I can get the same deal. If she has broadband Internet access, I might try and mooch that off her too–maybe work out a deal with wireless where I pay half the cost and just use a wireless card on my computer like Heather and I do now. If she doesn’t have broadband already, maybe I’ll try and work that out with her anyway.

The neighborhood is quite nice. The house itself is on SE Stark Blvd, inbetween 17th and 18th. Stark can be a fairly busy street, but nothing like Cedar Hills Blvd. that I’m on now, and even though there will be cars driving on it, I won’t get the dull roar of Highway 26 that I’ve come to loathe. It’s across the street from Buckman Elemetary School, so it should be safe without cars speeding down the street. I’m a mile from Laurelhurst Park, biking/walking distance from numerous places I enjoy going including two McMenamins (one of which being the Bagdad Theater) and the oh-so-trendy Hawthorne shopping district, about 25 blocks from the Horse Brass pub, and maybe a mile and a half from Erika’s place. It’s easy to get downtown, it’s easy to get on the freeway. It’s exactly where I want to be.

Getting the apartment wasn’t as easy as I initially thought it would be, however. I scheduled an appointment to see the apartment yesterday morning during my lunch hour, and after being shown around by the current tenant and the owner of the house, I said I’d definitely like to get an application. The owner’s response was: “Well…this pretty much is the application.” He later said that it was mine if I wanted it, and that I could have a day to thnk it over if I wanted. When I got back from lunch, though, I saw that he’d emailed me with some bad news. Due to a misunderstanding, he hadn’t realized that the other tenant (the one on the ground floor not moving out) had shown the place to a friend of hers first, and the owner said they’d talked for a long time about letting one of her friends move in when the current tenant left. Due to that, he said he had to give first rights to the friend.

I knew from the owner’s comments that he had liked the place, but he was going back later with his partner to take a look at it and make the ultimate decision. For the rest of the day, I was nervous and aprehensive because I really wanted the place. I didn’t go jogging when I got home from work because I wanted to be near my phone if John (the owner) called with news either way, I kept my phone in my pocket even when I was just in the kitchen making dinner–you know, in case I couldn’t hear it in my room. When he didn’t call by the end of the day, I didn’t know what to think, and so I went to bed and didn’t sleep well at all.

This morning, I emailed him first thing when I got to work and asked if he’d had any word from the friend, and he said no, but he was going to call him that morning. A couple of hours later, I got the good news: the place was mine if I wanted it. I didn’t hesitate and I accepted right away.

Of course, now comes the difficult part in preparing for and actually doing the moving. I have so much I need to do, including but not limited to: setting up electricity and natural gas billing, setting up other utilities I might want (cable and Internet mostly), looking for some furniture to fill up the place (a dining table and chairs, and a queen-sized bed and accessories for starters), and the miscellaneous things that I’ll think of as time goes by like cleaning supplies, and incidentals like food.

Plus, all the packing and moving of my stuff. That’s not too difficult, fortunately. I’m able to cram most of my stuff into one room already, and when I moved from my Mom’s house to my apartment with Heather, we managed to do it in a total of four car trips. Of course, that was also when the house and apartment were less than 10 minutes apart. I might prefer to do it in one trip this time with a U-Haul truck since it’s a good 25 minutes from my current apartment to where I’ll be living. The only thing that really worries me about the move is my desk, honestly: it took so long to assemble, I’m not sure I’ll be able to disassemble it and then reassemble it again later. I’ll have to dig up the directions, at the very least.

The current tenant will be out by the end of the month–the 26th or 27th, I think John said–so I can start moving my stuff in at any time after that. I’ll probably schedule a full-scale move that following weekend, if I can, and at least get everything into one place so I can deal with it on days I’m not getting up at 6 AM to go to work for nine hours.

That’s about all I have to say for now. I’m very, very happy that I found this place, and I feel extremely lucky to get it. I’ll eventually take pictureswhen I move in, but for now, just trust me that it’s one of the neatest places you could choose to live.

Posted in Erika, Family, General, Work

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Sep13
2005 Written by Andrew

Heather made a lovely plate of chicken jerky Sunday night. Now, for those of you thinking that you’ve never seen chicken jerky before, rest assured, neither have I. In fact, she’d put a whole package of chicken on the grill and left it on for too long…way too long. So she ended up with a nice selection of burnt and overcooked chicken, some of which I enjoyed when she decided she didn’t want. The stuff that wasn’t overly burnt was a bit chewy, but tasty. So, kudos Heather! Thanks for the jerky.

Saturday’s evening at the Horse Brass with a bunch of people from Fark went very well. I wasn’t exactly sure of the turnout, and I was pleasantly surprised when about 15 people showed. The only problem I was really expecting was securing a table for all of us to sit at, but fortunately there were two empty tables and Heather, Erika and I just pushed them together before people arrived. Right before the first people started showing up as the place picked up, though, a woman sat down at our second table. I politely told her that we had a large party showing up in the next few minutes and we had reserved the space for them, and her response was “Well they aren’t here now and there’s nowhere else to sit.” That left me completely dumbstruck, and I literally sat there with my mouth open, marvelling at the sheer, what’s a good word? Assholiness? Yes, assholiness of her attitude. Have you ever been to a crowded movie theater and sit down, only to have someone say “I’m sorry, these seats are saved.” what do you do? You say, “Oh, OK,” and you find another place to sit, even if it means sitting on the side where you have to turn your neck in such a way that it will never be the same again. You don’t say “Well they’re not here and we need a place to sit.”

Once my initial shock had worn off a moment later, I repeated what I’d said, that the table was reserved for a large group, and that they would be there shortly. She persisted with the attitude that she was entitled to any empty seat in the pub because she didn’t have the patience to wait for a whole table opening up elsehwere. Now, at that point my politeness was wearing off, and if I’d had a bad day or I was on my second pint of beer, I probably would have said something that I’d later regret or would lead to an escalation that would put my evening at the Horse Brass in jeopardy. I simply have no patience for people who ignore the general rules of a polite society, and when someone is that stubborn, I might do something rash. There may have been three people sitting at the table at that very moment, but that didn’t mean we just liked our elbow room.

Erika saved the day, and as the woman started waving over her party, Erika scooted over until she was on the half of the table that the woman expected to have her group sit at, and the woman, realizing that she was clearly dealing with someone vastly more powerful than she was, said something probably not too polite under her breath and left the table. Not a minute later, a table opened up and the woman and her party got to sit down at their own, unoccupied table where they wouldn’t have to fight someone.

I don’t say things like this often on my blog, but man, what a bitch.

I took particular pleasure in later taking one of the stools from their table when our group got too big for our two combined tables and used all of the available seating. I deliberately chose their table to take a stool from–they weren’t using it, mind you, I’m not that much of a hypocrite–as one final “See? I told you so,” aimed at that woman. She didn’t look too happy to see me again, though. I didn’t care at that point. My clothes smelled like smoke–always the hallmark of a night out on the town, I had consumed a couple of pints, I’d eaten some fish and chips, and I was generally having a good time.

All in all, it was a good night. An interesting selection of people showed up, including someone who had just moved to Portland–literally, driving into town the night before–someone who’d been there for a month and was “couch surfing” (moving from couch to couch with friends), someone I met at the last Fark Party, and a couple who drove all the way up from Salem. Actually, the cousin of one of said people who drove from Salem owns Stone Brewery, makers of one of my favorite beers, Arrogant Bastard Ale. I ordered an Arrogant Bastard at one point during the night, and as I raised my glass, I told him it was another quarter in his family’s piggy bank.

Of course, the next morning my hair, all the clothes I’d left on the floor, as well as my pillow–thanks to my hair–smelled like smoke. As far as I know, those clothes are still sitting in my hamper, smelling like smoke. I don’t mind the smell of smoke on my clothes while I’m out, but the smell of old, rancid smoke makes my stomach turn. Bleah.

I finally got my bike fixed, and I picked it up on Sunday. I don’t really have a place to keep it at the apartment for the time being, so it’s sitting out on the patio. Monday I needed to go over to my Mom’s to fix her computer (hard drive died), so instead of driving I rode my bike there. It was a good ride, actually. I didn’t have a helmet anymore so I went to the Bike Gallery downtown yesterday at lunch and bought myself a decent helmet for $35, plus a rear flasher for safety. I got home, got my stuff together in my messenger bag, and then set out for her place. It was great! It was only about an 8.5 mile ride, but it felt great to stretch my legs in a way different than jogging. I discovered that the muscles required for bike riding are similar–though not identical–to the ones required for jogging, and if I hadn’t been jogging all this time I don’t think I would have done too well. As it was, my thighs were only fatigued in the first couple of miles, and after that it was smooth sailing…er, riding. It was dark by the time I went home, so instead of riding the 8.5 miles back (and believe me, I wanted to) I just rode over to the MAX station that’s a quarter mile from her house and rode MAX back to Sunset Transit Center, then rode from there back to the apartment.

And as it always has, from the days when I used to ride everywhere in Corvallis to the days I went on 40-mile bike rides with my Dad, that space in between my legs hurts like the dickens. Ow. Ow ow ow. I think I need a better seat.

No further word on apartments, alas. I went and saw a palce on Saturday with Erika, and though the apartment itself was very nice and the rent was more than affordable, I didn’t care for the location–right next to I-5, literally–and tha manager was, well, the manager was a little creepy. He made photocopies of both mine and Erika’s drivers licenses before he even showed me the place, and he went on later about how close of tabs he kept on the residents. That combined with the fact that the apartment I looked at was right above his made me take the application and put it into the “maybe, but only if I have no other choice” pile. I’ve got another place to see this week, though, so we’ll see how that goes.

Everything is just generally going pretty well, really. Work’s going fine. My birthday is coming up as many of you know, and I’ve heard plenty of lamentation from Erika about what to get me, and I keep getting asked what I’d like to do for a celebration. Honestly, I have no idea on either count, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. Erika did two separate birthday celebrations when her birthday rolled around earlier in the year, one for the family (and me!) and one for her friends (and me!). I was thinking something like that might be kind of fun, but I don’t know what to do for either one.

I have a couple of ideas, though. I’ll keep ‘em to myself for now and let the suspense grow.

Until next time.

Posted in Beer, Erika, Family, Geekery, General, Work

Crash into me

Sep09
2005 Written by Andrew

Wednesday night, Erika and I went to go see the movie Crash at the Bagdad Theater. The Bagdad, for those who may have forgotten or don’t live in Portland, is an old 1920′s movie theater purchased and renovated by McMenamins and turned into a second-run movie theater. It’s big, it’s beautiful, they let you sit in the balcony, and you can eat pizza and drink beer while watching movies you paid a mere $3 to see. It is, by far, my favorite theater in the city–and in fact, Entertainment Weekly rated it and the theater in the Kennedy School (also a McMenmains venue) as two of the best theaters in the country.

But I digress–the movie. It was, by far, one of the best and most powerful movies I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about it after we walked out, but the more I thought about it the more I liked it, and the more it made me think. I like movies that make me think without searching for meaning. Sometimes, as with this movie, there’s no overarching moral message or meaning to it, it’s just a series of events that happen and the only people who walk away fundamentally changed are the characters in the story. I also like movies that don’t need to slam me over the head with a moral message or clear motives to get a point across. It’s nice when things go unsaid and they’re left for the viewer to realize and understand. Crash was this way.

So while you may not have a Bagdad Theater in your area, Crash will be out on video soon enough if it’s playing at the Bagdad now. I highly recommend you give this movie a whirl, and it will definitely be worth your time.

Earlier this week, I was trying to decide what to make for dinner and happened upon something really yummy. A couple of weekends ago, I made Erika a very nice dinner as I wrote before, but I still had some of the main course–pork roast–left over and I knew it was going to spoil if I didn’t eat it soon. I sort of felt like pasta, and so I figured I could just heat up the meat and have it on the side, but then I realized: why not cook it into the sauce? Great idea, by the way. I made my Special Andrew Pasta Sauce as I normally do, but I chopped up the pork and mixed it in with the garlic and onions I sautee before adding the tomato sauce. It took a little longer to cook, but it was well worth it. Since the pork was already cooked, after simmering for 30 minutes or so on the stove in tomato sauce, the pork just fell apart and was very, very tender. That might have been the best pasta sauce I’ve ever made.

Apartment hunting, for those who have never done it before, is an incredibly dull and frustrating process. I’ve sorted through every single apartment on craigslist that has been advertised in the last three weeks–both in my price range and out–and I’m still coming up short on ideas. Sigh. I went and saw a place yesterday during my lunch break that I liked, but unfortunately it was on the third floor of a 40-unit complex. The neighborhood was nice, the apartment had plenty of space and was nice inside, but I’m just not sure about a 40-unit complex. I mean, if I’m going to live in a place that big, I expect a pool for having to put up with so many neighbors. I’d much rather prefer a five-plex and smaller, or maybe as many as Erika’s building, an eight-plex. I know that I can’t be too picky, but I’m going to be living in this place for an indefinite amount of time, and I want to make sure I’m happy there.

I put the place yesterday in the “maybe” pile. It’s the only one there so far.

I have an appointment to see yet another place Saturday at noon, and while it’s a bit more than I wanted to pay for rent, it’s not out of my price range. I’m crossing my fingers that by spending a little extra I get a little extra. I came across an ad for a place that is literally exactly where I want to be. If I had to pick a neighborhood–any neighborhood in the entire city of Portland to live in–it would be there. It was an old, classic five-unit house that had been renovated recently, it had a lot of charm and class, and just generally is exactly what I’m looking for. Of course, it was only a one-bedroom and no mention of square footage. That place goes into the “I wish” pile along with so many others.

I know I’ll find something, and truthfully, I’m not in any hurry to move out right now. I have a pretty sweet deal on rent right now living with Heather, where I pay my fair share and I can also save a significant amount of money each paycheck until the time comes for me to start paying my own rent. Part of me is a bit aprehensive about moving out, mostly because I know it’s going to be a complete change in lifestyle for me. I’ll have less money to “play” with every paycheck, I’ll take on a lot of new responsibilities, and things will be different for awhile. But at the same time, there are a lot of pluses that I have to keep in mind. At leats I don’t have to be out of my current place by a certain date.

Yes, I know what some of you are thinking: have I considered moving in with Erika? It’s something we’ve talked about in the past, but decided not to do for the time being for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we both value our own time and space. Let’s face it: it’s entirely reasonable to care for someone a great deal but not want to spend every minute with them, and living in a two-bedroom apartment with someone means you’re practically attached at the hip. Both of us like having time alone as much as we enjoy spending time together, and throwing us both together into a place means that while we could afford a larger, more luxurious place than the two places we could separately, we’d be forced to be constantly interacting. Secondly, it’s a pretty big step. I’m pretty open-minded and flexible, and I was the first one of us to bring it up, but I think that while it’s something we could do if we put our minds to it and probably would come out OK, it’s not something that should be rushed into. I have friends who’ve moved in with their significant others for reasons as simple as saving on rent, and I think that in the end, it’s probably better if we don’t try and emulate that behavior.

Besides, Erika and I hve enough trouble figuring out what to do some nights when we’re together, I certainly don’t want to spread the following conversation out over every night of the week:

“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“I asked you first.”
“I asked you second.”

Noting who says what is irrelevent since we’re both like that.

Speaking of Erika, I slowly started Erika in on my beloved “Farscape” TV show that I’ve collected most of the DVDs for, and while she was reluctant at first given how much time we spent watching “Babylon 5″ on DVD in our first few months of dating, she has reluctantly admitted that she’s actually enjoying the show despite her better judgement.

Of course, I also had to make a deal with her that I would watch a bunch of things that she wants to watch in the future, including the miniseries of “Pride & Predjudice.” Hmmm…there’s a movie version coming out with Keira Knightly starring, I wonder if that would be an adequate substitute? Eh, Erika?

I’m so very glad it’s Friday. This week hasn’t been too bad, but it’s quite boring at times. Tomorrow night I’ll be at the Horse Brass with a few people I know and a bunch of people I don’t, eating food and drinking beer. Today at work we’re having a pizza party for the last day of one of my coworkers, which is somewhat funny since my boss is out of town today. I’m going to try and avoid eating a lot (or even any) pizza, though, since not only am I trying to watch my weight–particularly tough when there’s pizza involved–but also because I had pizza on Wednesday at the Bagdad Theater. We’ll see. It might prove to be too gooey and tasty to pass up, but if I can exercise even a minute amount of self-control, I’ll be happy. Wish me luck.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I plan to.

Posted in Beer, Erika, Food, General, Movies

Long weekend, long week.

Sep07
2005 Written by Andrew

Last week might have been a record for me–I’m fairly certain that I jogged more last week than any other week I ever have, even back two summers ago when I was jogging Monday through Friday. I only jogged four times last week compared to the five times a week I used to do, but I went much further than I used to. As a matter of fact, I’m doing a whole 5k every time I jog now–both in preparation for the 5k run Erika and I are doing in a couple of weeks, and also…well, because I can. Call it a macho thing if you will. Erika still hasn’t made the full 5k yet, but she’s come pretty close (2.5 out of the 3.1 miles) and she jogs more often than I do. She jogs in the morning when it’s cooler, and I tend to jog in the afternoons when it’s hotter, and frankly, I prefer jogging in the mornings. If I didn’t have to be at work at 7 AM, I’d definitely jog before work. As it is, I’m already getting up at 5:45 every morning, and I don’t want to get up earlier than that for the time being. I tried that last year. I got up at 5:15, jogged for two miles on the treadmill at the apartment complex, and then showered and drove to work. I didn’t like it, and it didn’t last for long.

Of course, given what happened the last time I was jogging fairly long distances regularly, I’ve been watching the health of my legs, my knees in particular. I’ve felt them starting to tweak a couple of times, and my shins started hurting a bit after the second run last week, but it’s only been at the beginning of the jog. After a mile or so, my legs feel great. As I jogged yesterday morning–it was early, mist was rising off the lake I jog around, very picturesque–I even considered going for a fifth lap around the lake to put me at about 3.6 miles, but one of my hips felt like I needed to give it a break. It feels nice to be regularly exercising again, and I think that I’m going to try and keep it up as the winter goes on. Naturally, I said that last winter, as well.

The biggest thing going on right now is that I’m apartment hunting. Without going into too many details, my finances have changed in such a way that I can now afford to be living in my own place (and I have a car that’s in my own name, now), and so I’ve turned to a few places online and in print to help me in my search. It’s a difficult process, really. My main source of listings has been the always-useful craigslist since the places in my price range typically advertise there pretty exclusively. On Saturday, I went and looked at a place that I found through craigslist, and while on paper it seemed perfect, in the flesh it wasn’t exactly what I expected. It had the trappings of comfort and convenience–800 sq./ft., 2 bedrooms, rent lower than my budget, all utilities except electricity paid for, washer and dryer in the unit, decent neighborhood, etc. Unfortunately, the washer and dry were in the kitchen–literally, right next to the fridge–and while the surrounding neighborhood may have been OK, the street and neighbors were definitely low rent, so to speak. I took an application anyway, just in case. I have another appointment today during my lunch hour to see another place on 50th St. in SE Portland, in between Hawthorne and Division–pretty much one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Portland without the glitz and glamour (or cost) of the Pearl District. It’s 30% bigger than the last place I saw with only $30 more in rent, too. Tomorrow I’m seeing yet another place on 15th and Stark in SE Portland, and I have inquiries out about another place.

Finding a place of my own is tougher than I thought, though, because part of me wants to find the “perfect” apartment. I know that’s not possible, of course, since the grass is always greener…well, you know. No grass in an apartment, but you get my drift. There’s a lot of things I’m willing to live with when it comes to downsides of apartments, so I just have to know what I want and balance it with what I can afford. Hopefully these other two places can give me a better idea of what I can afford. At least they’re easy to get to–I can literally just take the bus to both places, which I guess is sort of the idea, isn’t it? I’m looking forward to living in an area where I can get around almost exclusively by bus and bike and get my official “Southeast Portland resident” membership card. OK, so that doesn’t really exist, but if I travel by bike and bus and slap either a “Keep Portland weird” or John Kerry sticker on my car, I’d be an official resident of SE. Of course, I’d have to trade in my Escort for an old Volvo or something, though.

So why Southeast Portland, you ask? I could probably get a bigger place in Beaverton or if I went up to North Portland or down to the Sellwood district–cheaper rent, too. I know all this, but SE is where I want to be. Nice neighborhoods, low density, not a lot of crime, I’d fit in better than other areas, and a lot of the stuff I like to do is around there. Plus it’s close to work, I can use public transportation to get just about everywhere, and I don’t have to deal with the freeways of Beaverton when I want to get food somewhere. Even if I wasn’t dating someone who lived smack in the middle of SE I’d still be looking for a place in the area. That’s just the icing on the cake, being able to bike to my girlfriend’s apartment whereever I end up. I saw a place listed awhile back that was about a block and a half from Erika’s apartment, but we both decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to investigate. Being so close doesn’t give enough of a “buffer zone” and might make us feel obligated to get together more often than we do already. We both cherish alone time now and then, and as much as we enjoy each other’s company, two blocks just isn’t a good buffer zone. Elsewhere in SE is OK, close enough that it’s easy to get to each other’s apartments but there’s no risk of a pop-in (“I was in the neighborhood….”) but far enough away that we’d still have to call and let the other person know when they were coming over.

My Labor Day weekend, without going into too much detail, was a lot of fun and even a little productive. Friday night was the baseball game at PGE Park in the PGE luxury suite. It made for comfortable seating, a good view of the game, and all the free food and beer I could get my hands on. Erika and I didn’t stay through the entire game, though. She’d had a long day, so we left around the 7th inning stretch, despite the fact that the Beavers were strangely ahead and eventually won the game. Saturday I went and saw the apartment, and then Erika, Heather, and I all went to go see The Transporter 2. I loved the first one–it falls into the “so bad it’s good” category–and while the second was a lot of fun it didn’t hold a candle to the first. On Monday, I got about about 6:30 AM, went jogging, drove out to my Mom’s and helped her with a few things, then spent the rest of the day at my Dad’s before a big family dinner that evening with everyone in attendance.

Other than this monumental task of finding a new place to live, things are going quite well. This upcoming weekend I organized a get-together for readers of Fark.com in the Portland area (known on the site as a “Fark Party”) at the Horse Brass pub, so that should be fun. Erika’s not a fan of Fark, but she’s coming along if only for the beer and a plate of bangers and mash. I’m not expecting a huge crowd, maybe a half dozen or more. One guy who said he’s coming I invited (its open to everyone, I just let him know about it) specifically because I read a post of his on Fark where he was lamenting moving to Portland beacuse he had to drive cross country to get here with gas prices as high as they are. I contacted him and let him know about the party, and since he doesn’t know anyone in Portland he was grateful for the invitation.

Even if no one shows up, I’ll be glad to knock back a pint or two at the Horse Brass. Man their food is good.

If you try and post a comment on my site in the future, I added a little feature that requires you to enter a random code when submitting the comment. I’ve gotten a deluge of comment spam in the last couple of days, and while none of it has actually made it into the comments (they’ve been sitting in a queue that I need to approve), I’m tired of getting email after email notifying me of a comment on an entry I wrote three years ago, knowing that it’s spam before I even read the comment. There’s a special place in hell reserved for spammers, let me tell you, along with child molesters and people who talk during movies. I’ve managed to fight them off–yet again–for the time being, but only time will tell if I’m successful. If you have trouble leaving a comment on my site, go ahead and fire me off an email and let me know: andrew at technodevil dot com. Why type it out like that instead of posting the real thing? Spammers, man. Spammers. They know everything.

So that’s what’s going down. Wish me luck with apartment hunting, I’m going to need it.

Posted in Beer, Erika, Family, Food, General

About me

Early 30's, Portlander, professional geek, runner, cook, beer drinker, beer brewer, gamer, occasional blogger.
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