i tried to ford the river, but my oxen died

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 »

I thought the fact that it snowed last week to be of note. It remained peculiar all week and the snow all but disappeared by Friday. They talked of some more snow over the weekend.

I didn’t take them seriously. I’ve also been wearing the same pair of clothes since Friday as a result.

By Saturday morning there was already a good amount of snow on the ground. We were over at Chris’s parents, making the annual 50 dozen cookies (no exaggeration) and it was a good day for snow. Saturday night, very few people were on the roads. I went with Chris’s dad to pick him up from work in their 4×4, and while we had to drive slowly, it wasn’t bad.

The next morning went from Chris’s back to his parents’ to finish making the cookies. Now the roads were getting bad. Yet it kept snowing.

Keep in mind this is a city that has about five plows just in case we get that odd inch or two. When we get the fourteen inches that we did, they’re in over their heads. Most of the busses have shut down, and the roads are barely plowed, if at all. I’ve heard downtown is a little better, but that hardly helps all the way out in Mt Tabor.

It’s funny that one of the reasons I moved to pdx was because it almost never snows here. Now they’re not sure when it’ll stop. It’s not coming down heavy, just very steady. And it doesn’t help that I also don’t own the appropriate clothing for the snow. Assuming I can get downtown in the next day or so I’m going to try to take advantage of the sale at REI. We’ll see how that works out.

I’ve thrown in two photos. The night time photo was taken Saturday night. The daytime photo was taken this morning. It’s probably hard to see much as they were taken through the front window, but trust me. Mondo snow.

Okay, enough complaining about the snow. It’s a few days to Christmas, maybe it’ll be white this year. I’m pretty sure my package won’t make it to my parents’ house on time. But that could be because I haven’t mailed it yet. Oh well.

Be safe and warm!

Posted in downtown, holiday, jPhone, knitting, mt tabor, pdx, photos, weather, work | Comments Off

It’s snowing in Portland…

I know it looks like just a dusting, but that’s because it really is. It’s also a big deal for the area and drivers get petrified of it. Which makes them idiots because they still drive in it.

I, however, don’t have a vehicle and so have no option of going anywhere. What’s worse is that I really don’t have suitable shoes for wandering out and about in it. And I so do love a good wander.

All joking about the weather aside, it is supposed to be in the teens/twenties for a good portion of the week, so the snow we get will be sticking around for a bit. That should make commuting tomorrow fun.

I’m still without an Internet provider, so I’m writing all this from my phone, lovely thing. I had plans to do some errands, but that’s unlikely in today’s weather. And as I write this ambulance are screaming past. Silky people. Anyway, I’ll likely be sitting about knitting last minute gifts, trying desperately to get them out before the big day.

So until next time, be well!

Posted in jPhone, knitting, pdx, photos, weather, work | 6 Comments »

So I wanted to say something here other than wishing you the first day of the new season, but I really have nothing of importance to say.  Nothing of non-importance to say for that matter either.

All in all, life is good.  As the days grow ominously shorter, I find myself feeling much sleepier than usual and less willing to leave the house.  A mild case of self-diagnosed SAD is annoying, but it’s not the end of the world.  I just need to find things to occupy my time.

I started on making the amazing Smokin’ Jacket (mines in a navy colour) that I’ve been coveting all year, only for all nearby yarn shops to run out of my yarn, so that’s on hiatus.  I tried making a hat the other day, but as usual I’m crap when it comes to picking colours and putting them together, so I stopped as soon as I saw how bad it was going to turn out.  From now on, I’m only working with prescribed colours, those with an eye have suggested, or if I’ve seen what they look like together.

And it’s just about time for the equinox to occur.  I’m at work blogging, mostly because computers hate me and I’m reinstalling my MS Office package.  That means no email, no calendar.  Which means I have no idea what or where I’m supposed to be.

How we ever survived in an age without computers to break down, I’ll never know.

Posted in SAD, equinox, knitting, work | 1 Comment »