i tried to ford the river, but my oxen died

After a particularly rainy week, it became decidedly warm and not rainy out. So my friend Keith and I decided we had been indoors long enough and drove up to Mt Hood (our local volcano) and attempted to go hiking.

We planned everything except for the where on the mountain we were going part. After a gorgeous drive out, we started ascending the mountain, but failed to find a suitable trail head. Pressing on we quickly found ourselves high above the timber line. There *is* something fun about snow at the end of April.

The snow on the side of the road was higher than the car itself, so it got to the point where there was no possibility of getting out. We thought about heading back down the mountain and trying again, but decided to stop at Timberline to see if they had any maps we could snag.

Timberline, as you may know, was the exterior of The Overlook in The Shining (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge). Yeah, Oregon’s famous like that.  However, as with most movies, or Cheers, very little of what you remember from the movie actually exists at the lodge. Like the hedge maze. Sadly that was fabricated.

Anyway, we got out of the car in our shorts and realized how warm it was, even that far up, so instead of driving about we decided to start walking up into the snow.  We didn’t climb that high up the mountain, but trudging the the snow is tiresome.  Thankfully the snow was packed so as to be mostly solid as opposed to 12 foot snow drifts.

The novelty of walking in the snow in shorts and tee-shirts not lost to us, we snapped a few photos.  Sadly, the jPhone not being a real camera, couldn’t compensate for the glare of the sun off the snow and as I guesseed, all my photos turned blue.  Keith had a real camera and snapped a few that turned out much better.  I’ve linked to the photos at the bottom.  I think I removed most of the ones I took as the blue tint is rather annoying.

We only stayed in the snow for about an hour before getting back to the car, and it wasn’t what we had planned, but it was still a rather fun day as a result.  And I know I definitely got snowburned as a result; my face was quite red when I got home.

We have talk of bringing a tarp next time and putting a blanket down and having a picnic in the snow.  Ah Oregon, how I love thee.  OH! And today is Star Wars Day!  May the 4th be with you!

Timberline Lodge

Posted in friends, hiking, jPhone, mt hood, photos, weather | Comments Off

Well, I’m back. Have been for a little over a week now. Rome was a great break from the reality of not having a job. Chris and I saw tons, some I hadn’t seen before, some revisited. We also at mass quantities of gelato and pizza. Pizza by the weight. By far the best idea ever. I have pictures on the Internet. I’m still debating whether to link to them or not. It’s almost entirely old churches and ruins with no captions. But I’m afraid if I wait until I do label them, it’ll never happen.

So right now i’m sitting by the Salmon Street foutain, typing this on my jPhone watching the Williamette. It’s a beautiful day (after many rainy) and I’m just enjoying it.

I’ve been job searching, but nothing looks promising. Thankfully, I have unemployment this time. And a nice bit of saving. So I’m not hurting. While I really don’t want to deplete my savings, I’m also not pressured to jump at the first job I find out of desperation. That’s somewhat comforting.

In the meantime I’ve been doing a lot of knitting. I’m making a sweater just in time for summer, but it’s coming along a lot quicker than I anticipated. This past Saturday I went to the Gorge to hike only to find it rainly only there and only while hiking. Those photos I’ll post.

So there that is. Here’s to a quick end to the Great Recession.

Posted in coffee, downtown, falls, friends, geek, gorge, jPhone, knitting, photos, unemployed, walking, weather | 1 Comment »

Jan 13

I bought a fedora. There. I said it. But not a felted fedora. More of a linen one. Rather stylish.  Looks awesome.  Keeping with current trends, there are no photos posted of it.

In other news, the economy finally came to Portland and OHSU had to make significant changes and layoffs. As a result I no longer work for ITG, but instead for the newly created Clinical Informatics department. The director of this department is the doctor I’ve been work with basically since I’ve started, so basically little real change. Oh, and I didn’t lose my job. That rocks.

Jan 30

I wrote the previous bit about two weeks ago, with the intentions of finishing it.  That obviously never happened.  And a few things have happened since then.  Like I said, not losing my job was one of them.

With the enonomy as it is, the healthcare industry had to make some cut backs as well.  My department had to lay off a large number of people.  Thankfully, I was not one of them.  I did get my job shifted a bit.  I no longer work in ITG, but for the newly created Clinical Informatics Department.  And my boss switched to the doctor for whom I had been loaned out to since I had started working.  So at the moment, very little has changed for me in that respect.

OH! And the humidity thing.  I had almost forgotten about that.  My apartment has basically been like living in a rainforest.  It was horrid.  It got so bad that mold started growing in the window sills and doors.  So I bought a dehumidifier.  In 72 hours, that sucker pumped out a whopping 6.25 gallons of water.  And it continues today.  I can’t wait to see what it’s going to do to my electric bill.

Lame excuses time.  I had thought about blogging the past two weeks.  Two weeks ago I traipsed about Forest Park and last week was an ad hoc trip to the coast.  I took some photos on my phone, and they exist somewhere, but not on the interwebs at the moment.

In other news, I finished my Smokin’ Jacket (the photo is the original by the designer… mine’s blue).  I should say it’s mostly finished.  I need to attach the second pocket and go shopping for buttons.  I still wear it in its almost complete state, but I’m not calling it until then.  As a result, pictures of that are scarce too.  I really should work on my pigritude.  My next project is a pullover.  We’ll see how that goes.

I don’t think there’s anything else of interest to report.  I’ll try and be a little more diligent about updating my life for the edification of all.  And then there is always Twitter…

Cheers.

Posted in coast, downtown, friends, hats, lame excuses, obscure words, photos, work | 7 Comments »

I’m sure having a late Thanksgiving didn’t help matters, but the close of this year has snuck up on me.  For whatever reason, I’m still back at the end of Septemberish.  So the fact that it’s already Christmas still confuses me.

Thanksgiving was a nice relaxing four-day weekend.  We had dinner over at Chris’s aunt’s house with his family and then played cards into the evening.  Lots o’ good food.  Pretty low-key next few days.  More eating, more food.

And then Sunday.  Sunday we went hunting for Christmas trees in Pleasant Valley.  After about an hour searching I found a beautiful little Nobel that was just asking to be cut down.  That night I was the proud owner of a newly decorated, freshly cut Christmas tree.  It looks better in real life than it does in the photo.  You know how camera phones are.  Even the jPhone.

Let the holidays commence!

Posted in friends, holiday, jPhone, pdx, photos | 2 Comments »

Happy No One’s at Work Because It’s a Long Weekend Day!

It’s 11am and I so don’t want to be at work.  Especially because everyone else is out not being at work, enjoying the last vestiges of summer.  But I suppose that’s neither here nor there.

It’s been a bit of a busy week.  I tried to recover from last weekend on Sunday, but that didn’t happen nearly as much as I had hoped.  And then there were dinners with friends, crochet class–a friend suggested, so I figured why not. Turns out I’m not that good at it–a concert at the waterfront, finishing with the 1812 overture, real cannons and fireworks, games with friends tonight and Phantom of the Opera tomorrow.  I think this weekend I’m just going to do nothing.  Sit and relax.

But you’re not here for that.  I promised pictures, and here they are.  They’re mostly Susan’s doing, but there are a handful from my camera.  So without ado:

Suz y Q

The Gorge, Part Deux

Posted in columbia river, falls, friends, gorge, holiday, photos, work | 2 Comments »

Obviously I just had a smashing weekend with Suz y Q, and obviously there were a lot of photos involved.  But I haven’t had time to quite organise them into something coherent.  And this week has been surprisingly busy.  But to (hopefully) hold you over, I submit as short youtube video.  Have at it:

Posted in friends, lame excuses, video | Comments Off

So if nothing else, the weather is usually fairly predictable here.  In winter it never stops raining.  In summer, it almost never rains and gets really hot maybe four days a year.

This morning it’s actually raining.  And it’s calling for rain all week.  While I usually like the rain, and it is true that I did just the other day say I missed the rain, I definitely do not like commuting in it.

When I lived downtown, it was only a 15 minute walk, and I usually managed to stay pretty dry.  Now it’s a 40 minute walk from the other side of the river.  Or a 10 minute bike ride (which I only recently started doing… Oh yeah, I may have forgotten to mention I bought a bike).  Biking in the rain during rush hour = not fun.  I am definitely taking the bus this winter.

But on a happer note, only three days until Suz y Q arrive to take pdx by storm! Huzzah!

Posted in bike, friends, pdx, walking, weather, work | 2 Comments »

There are a number of cool things to do in Portland that locals don’t often get to.  You know how it is, you drive past it every now and again and think “I really should go see that.” But inevitably you never do.  There’s a museum in Milford that has the flag that cradled Lincoln’s head after he was shot.  We all knew that.  Everyone in Milford knows that.  But it wasn’t until the end of High School, having taken the bus past it daily, that I finally decided to visit.  It’s just how these things go.

At any rate, the Pittock Mansion is, I would wager, one of those places.  Every Portlander knows about it.  The ones who have lived her longer may have even visited it back in the day.  But it’s not a place one just goes to out of the blue.  And then we forget how cool it is.

Last night was Open Door night at the Pittock.  While I’m still shakey (read: know almost nothing) on its history, suffice it to say that it’s a big ole’ mansion on top a great big hill.  Kinda like Grey Towers.  Except with a better view.  And yesterday was one of those “hot” days in Portland.  I put quotes around it because it’s like summer in the east coast, minus the humidity and condensed into four days spread throughout the warmer months.  So it’s tolerable.  Except Portlanders are wusses when it comes to weather

Anyway, being that the mansion is high up in the West Hills, it was significantly cooler.  So my friend Kimmet, her boyfriend Bryan and I decided to stop at Whole Foods on the way up and grab some delicious food for a picnic dinner on the lawn.  It was a gorgeous night, and so much better than sweating in our respective apartments.  As it got darker, the somewhat-full moon rose over the city and Mt Hood was on fire from the setting sun.  It was excellent.

The jPhone is good for a great many things, but its camera is sometimes lacking. Even still, the photos didn’t turn out too poorly.  I do wish I could crop some of them in magnify what’s left, but the resolution isn’t that great.  Okay, enough rambling.  The five or six pictures that I actually kept in all their technological glory:

Pittock Mansion

Posted in friends, jPhone, mt hood, pdx, photos, weather | Comments Off

So every year PDX shuts down all the bridges and people are allowed to
walk and ride over them. Well, Chris, Nicole and I decided to do the
25 mile, 8 bridge loop. We managed to finish it in a little under two
and a half hours including a few pit stops and to take pictures. We’re
tired, stinky and we’re going for breakfast. Photos to follow.

Photos, as promised:

Portland Bridge Pedal 2008

Posted in bike, bridges, columbia river, downtown, friends, pdx, photos | 8 Comments »

What a rare mood I’m in.

So I’m almost entirely in my new place.  And I love the southeast.  Far superior to downtown, and so much quieter!  Walking to the grocery store the other day down tree-lined streets I realised yet again why this is called Rose City.  Aside from the crazy variety of plants people had growing in their front gardens and along the road, there were rose bushes everywhere.  The whole neighbourhood smelled so nice.  And I’m not usually one for roses.

And then today I found out that Suz y Q are coming out to visit next month!  Could this day get any better?  I won’t say no!

Cheers!

Post Script, the weather here is gorgeous.  The total lack of humidity (and apparent lack of snow) is enough to ensure that I never move eastward again.  Sorry friends.  But there’s plenty of room out here!

“Come…. Join Us….” he said eyes wide, in a deep droning tone, not unlike something you’d see on a bad made for tv movie depicting cults.  The only thing missing was the crazy spinning pinwheel overlayed on his eyes.

Posted in downtown, friends, moving, southeast, weather | 3 Comments »