Bonny Portland

Finally! In Portland! The DSL kicked in about 5pm today. No desk or chairs yet, so I'm stretched out on the floor trying to post this without getting rug burn. Lots of stuff has happened the last 2 days. Lets see how much I can remember.

I forgot to point out how country Redding, CA was. It was like being in the south, without the accent or the sweet tea. Lots of trucks, Carrie Underwood blasting from their speakers and blonde girls with their bouffant style bangs. Least I managed to get out of town without hearing any karaoke....

But not without watching Beenie take a poop on a pillow. We were getting ready to leave the hotel room and Olivia was cleaning up their litter box. Sensing we were about to go on another drive and wanting to show her anger, she plopped a poop on a pillow and then proceeded to wipe her butt on the way for good measure... least it wasn't my pillow..

The first thing I noticed after driving into Oregon, other than a nanny-state like insistence on driving slow, was the constant road construction: all financed by some Oregon Transportation Act that they must have had a vote for. I know its an exaggeration, but I don't remember too many 5 mile stretches where I didn't have to slow down because of road work.

We got to the new apartment around 5:30. The management people at the Lloyd Place Apartments couldn't have been nicer. She waited after hours for us and then did a real inspection of our unit, finding several problems that were mostly fixed this afternoon by a cool maintenance guy.

After getting Beenie and Dion situated with some food and a pooper, I insisted we run to the nearest bar, the Broadway Grill and Pub, showing the Sunday Night Football Bears game. Everyone had been telling me we didn't have a chance in that game. I arrived at halftime to see the Bears with a bit of a lead. I ordered the 9 beer sampler and started rooting on the Rex-less Bears. The 2nd half didn't disappoint as the good guys piled it on and posted a convincing road victory against the hardest opponent on their schedule. Superbowl, here we come!!

This morning we woke up and headed for breakfast at the Cadillac Cafe. The food was alright, Olivia liked it more than I. They did have a real Cadillac in the place, though. They also had a Coconut dessert that I'll come back to try.

Somewhere during the day, Olivia and I marvelled at the kismet that had us have our first full day in Portland on the one year anniversary of our engagement. Weird how the world works sometimes. I booked us a table at the best seafood restaurant in town, Jake's Famous Crawfish.

Next stop was Pacific Lifestyle Furniture. Olivia has been jonesing for a liveable couch for years now and after hearing that these couches were 100% made in Oregon with no foreign materials or parts, I was sold. It also helped that the overall price was less than half of similar things she had shown me in Pottery Barn catalogs. It's being made to order and should arrive on the 18th.

We headed home and I decided to find out just how far Jamba Juice was from my door. Good news, not that far. Its in a rather non-descript mall (Lloyd Center), but they don't use styrofoam cups!! Yes! Like Santa Monica, I figure Portland must not be a fan, I'll have to research this. It sucked in LA to have to remember where the city lines were in order to find a styrofoamless beverage container.

I also bought $100 worth of CFL lightbulbs today. This was after I had already replaced 4 light fixtures in the house with CFLs I brought with me. We have 2 bathrooms with 6 vanity lights each. We also have an overhead light in the living room that was stocked with 4 ornamental/candelabra lights. I'll be taking all these lights with me when I move, but until then, Yeah Earth! and Yeah saving money on the electric bill. Efficiency = easiest way to save energy/money. Have I mentioned the power company out here let me purchase 100% wind generated power? this blog brought to you by NATURE!!

Dinner at Jake's was awesome. We had this when we came out for my birthday last year. The Dungeness crab, still good, but not as awesome as last year. The Razor clams, still REALLY good. Both of us were happy with our dessert selections as well. 2 out of 7 Oysters were milky. The rule of thumb is only eat them in month's that have a 'R' in them, but its probably still a little too close to summer for comfort. I look forward to the colder months to eat them up.

Good first day overall. Sun was shining all day. Where's all the rain????

PS: Oregon Girls don't pump gas........

and apparently the guys don't either. Regular folks aren't allowed to pump their own gas. I don't know what kind of training the attendants must take, but I'm sure its extensive...