i tried to ford the river, but my oxen died

Well after much ado, I’ve finally become a college student. Again.

First off, how did we graduate five (plus or minus depending on who you are) years ago? When did that happen? And it’s probably going to take me another four to five years to get this degree, despite being a post bac and going full time. Well, starting next term.

Seeing how my illustrious institution did not accept me until a few weeks ago, very few classes were still actually open. The math classes I had planned on taking were full, so in the effort to have something to show for myself I signed up for ECE 101: Intro to Electrical Engineering. It wasn’t on the list of required classes, coupled with being a first year class, I was scared. Scared it would be horrifically boring.

“These are wire cutters. They cut wires!”

But it turns out this is a brand new, never before offered class and the required course list I was looking at was, in fact, outdated. I <b>do</b> need to take this class and it’s not nearly as simple as I had feared. There are no tests (yea!) but a number of projects and presentations. Our term project is to design and construct a Rube Goldberg machine, but with the use of electrical devices. That, I think, will be fun. Except that it’s a group project. And who wants to play nicely with others.

This is the only class I could find worth taking this term that was still open, so I’m really only busy on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00 – 1:30. Not exactly a strenuous schedule. Though they do suggest taking only one course when starting school after a long absence. You know, to get back into the swing of things. I’ll just have to figure out what to do with the rest of my time. Probably re-remember my high school math.

In other news, I’ve moved. I think many of you knew that. I’m still in Portland, but I’ve moved from close-in Southest, down to Sellwood. Which is also in the Southeast quadrant, but not really close-in. Especially not by bike. I think it’s about five miles from my apartment to school. So nothing hard to do, but nothing to laugh at either since I commute by bike.

If you want my addy and/or any other info, it’s on my Google profile. You’ll have to be logged into Google to see the good stuff. At least I’m pretty sure that’s how it works.

Oh, photos! So my friend Keith and I frequently go on hill walks throughout Portland. We try to go every weekend, but that doesn’t usually work out. It started because neither of us wanted to be as lazy as we were, plus I knew there were a lot of places in my own city that I just haven’t seen yet. So Portland Hill Walks it was. It’s a great book with some very excellent hikes. And some hikes we will never speak of again…. HILLSDALE!! *shakes fist violently* But all in all, a good time.

The last walk we went on was nice, but not that photographically inspiring. The one before that was from Willamette Park to Terwilliger Loop…. which means nothing to 99.9% of the people reading this. Go with it. It was a nice walk. And I’ve linked the photos below.  Nothing spectacular, mind, just a large number of photos of the river.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to tip your server:

Hill Walk

Posted in bridges, education, geek, hiking, moving, photos, walking | 2 Comments »

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