new rules and nicknames

why do i feel like i'm living under a rock? maybe its because i don't have my own place...maybe its because i live under a rock, i don't know, i'm not a doctor. what i do know is that the NHL changed some of the rules that will make for some footballesque scores...well, maybe not that crazy, but a little better than the "scoring juggernaut" games of 2 to 1. things like larger offensive zones, two line passes, goalie restrictions, tag up offsides, no line changes on the offending icers, and shootouts, it might just be enough to keep the NHL number 1 in my sports hierarchy in a close second to div. 1 college hockey (catch that?) you can check out the new rules at NHL.com courtesy of EA games. Very cool.
speaking of college hockey i wonder what will happen with the nickname rule. now that they've succumbed to Florida, will North Dakota come up with enough political clout to overturn the NCAA rule and bend them over a table while grabbing their ankles?
damn Katrina, raising gas prices. not that i drive much...but when i find some property that doesn't add 5K dollars every week i will be driving around.
Lightning in the PNW...

4 Days.

Hiking is fun!

Horsetail Falls

public or private transit

in looking for a place out here in the land of port i find one criteria steering me: relative proximity to public transit. i can look hard for places and find lots of descent places and i always check them to see how long the trip will be to downtown. i don't know if i'm okay with being on public transit for 77 minutes one way. that's over two hours a day.
i found a place that is priced at 140,000. it has 1100 sq.ft. and is very close to the light rail line. only 45 min one way to DT. however the realtor i am using says that the last townhouse in that complex sold 6 monhts ago for 120,000. i know 20,000 is a lot, but i wonder if that is where the market is. my friend Erick bought his house 15 months ago for 148,000 and already it has appraised for 185,000. my aunt and uncle bought their townhouse 10 months ago and it has increased in value 14,000.
i will wait for my wife to look at these places first hand before i put an offer on the table. but i definately do not want to miss a good deal!
the weather has been excruciatingly warm at 85+ degrees a day. it is supposed to cool down to the mid 70's this weekend which is nice. uh...i guess i don't have anymore to say right now.
i miss me wife.

8 Days.

life (the making of)

Congratulations to my friends Chad and Susan! they just completed making a baby. He is 27 or 28 (i'm not quite sure) but this is their first.
Wow. a new life. i can't wait to have a slave...i mean baby of my own, but right now i am too selfish, so i will keep practicing. My rediscovered friend Erick and his wife Trish also have a ten-month-old. people my age and their babies is foreign to me. what's even crazier to me is my friend Jayme who is my age and has a 6 year old.
i found another place and am going to look at it around 7 Pacific, but the realtor said that if i don't make an offer (if i like it) then it will be sold in the next couple of days. Crazy market.
Welcome to my newest (known) voyeur...Mrs. Perry!

9 Days

bread for the birds

hello my friends.
well...life in the big city. i have been here for a week and already i want my own place. i don't know if i'm using that as an excuse not to do stuff, but i might be. of course my wife won't arrive for another 10 days, so i am remaining for the most part, a hermit.
i have visited downtown and walked from the light rail to campus (to make sure i wouldn't have to drive into downtown every day.) it turns out campus is only about a half mile from the station, so yay for that.
i have been going crazy every day looking for a place. i want my own place so that i can unpack the trailer and just start living normally.
i found one place that was near a thoroughfare and close to the max line. i called the realtor thats helping me and she called me back later that day telling me that they had already sold the place that day. not to fear though, because it is a rowhouse...so there are like thirty of them in a row. the builder had three places left, however they raised their price $5000. about $5000 out of my budget. so anyway housing around here is damn crazy. not that its not crazy elsewhere, but i am just not used to it yet. i think it will take quite a bit of sluething to find a "dreamplace" whatever that may be.
the weather out here has been abnormally warm for this time of year. its been near ninety every day...too hot. i am not complaining though, because according to my uncle, i shouldn't have to shovel day one during the winter.
more later, and pics to come when we find a place to live.

10 Days (until the wife arrives.)

do not fret (fretless)

i arrived in a piece to the Land 'o' Port. more to follow later including stats and pictures of the trip. but for now...don't worry, i live on.

much love my peeps (the marshmellow) and to you my constant friends and fellows!

1 week MIA

i know i've built up all of you into thinking that i would be leaving for the PNW tomorrow, but i must inform you all that i have added 7 days.

Reason: ear infection combined with flu like symptoms. i can't hear a damn thing out of my right ear. the doctor says that my ear canal is swollen shut. blood leaking out...migraines...it sucks. this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me.

i decided that i didn't want to be driving over mountains where pressure changes might affect my head and its ability to do headlike things.

so the new countdown begins:
7 Days.

mountain men like beards?

i am getting really pumped now. it still hasn't come to fruition in my mind that i am actually leaving the land i have spent 24 years on and forging my own "Oregon trail." (who else loved that game besides me?)

funny story: the day our contract with the realtor expired we recieved an offer on our house, but remember, we already found someone to fill our need...so i got to deny that buyer. (thanks for taking so damn long!)

i think in loading the trailer, we may have buried the dvd box in the front...that means that i will be stuck without LOTR until we find our own place. i think i can handle that, but then again, i always did want to be a postman. (the good kind, not the Kevin Costner kind...even though i do like that movie because of its scope, i just don't care much for the actor.) so anyway...i am kind of sad that there will be no LOTR for me. i really had my hopes set on watching it with all of the different commentaries. i am not sure but i think that there are 2 or 3 commentaries...which would equal roughly 36 hours of movie time. oh well, i guess i will just have to wait for the rainy season.

one thing that i just started contemplating is that i could maybe start school in the winter quarter. that's after i put my feelers out there to see how thoroughly they check for residency status. i hope that i can start in Jan...less time waiting.

to make the trip out i am modifying my work truck with air springs (to haul a heavier load) and an electronic trailer braking system (to haul heavier loads down mountains.) (i wouldn't have to modify if the truck weren't so weak and chevy had built it on a truck chassis instead of on a blazer chassis.) so it will either help me with the trailer and i will make it to Portland by a week from now...or it won't help and i will die at the bottom of a ravine in the rocky mountains. i am kinda shootin' for the former.

4 Days.

the trailer is too heavy

we got pretty much everything loaded...so my wife is happy (most important thing.) what's funny though is that when we began loading the trailer we tetris'd everything in...so we actually have quite a bit of room toward the back of the trailer. this makes the front of the trailer very heavy and puts my truck in a perpetual state of wheelie. whats very cool though, is my parents are giving us their upright piano. not only is it cool because its a, you know...piano, but also, hopefully it will be enough ballast to counterweight the trailer. now that the packing is done we will have to fill our time with hanging with friends. and my mom, because its her birthday on Monday.

5 Days.

trading happiness for craziness

today begins our journey of materialized dreams...to phrase that in terms that i would use, we are packing like mofos and something is finally happening. tonight we are having a pizza/packing party to load our tiny ass trailer. i am afraid that we are going to have to leave behind quite a few things. this notion makes my wife crazy, and thus, in turn, makes me crazy. i would rather leave some stuff behind and not rent a u-haul. this would save us quite a bit of money to put toward furniture to replace that which we will have to leave.

after we are all packed we will be staying at my parents place for a week. i will be without my mac. my wife will be without her personal space.

it wasn't until two days ago that i started to realize that we are moving far away from everything we know. for my whole life i have lived within 80 miles of my parents...so this is going to be a big change for me. it will be nice though, because it will be like Ruth and I are pioneering our own lives now, free of strings and other stuff that...you know.

i like adventures. this will be a major one me thinks. i wonder what my wife will be willing to part with?

7 Days.