Yesterday I got up early and made the trip to Astoria for a beach hat tournament. When I heard beach tournament last Sunday, I thought "this time of year?" The organizer assured me that the weather would not be too bad, maybe a little chilly.
I have never before attempted to play frisbee in as much wind as there was yesterday. The air was chill, rain menaced and there was a continuous gale blasting down the field. The games were pretty much set by the results of the lag, the initial pulling contest in beach ultimate that determines who will begin with possession and where. We lost all lags, but won our first game with an upwind goal.
Despite the weather conditions I had a wonderful time. Somehow I was in better shape than most of the other guys on my team and ended up playing almost every point. That was fine by me since I would tighten up and get cold whenever I stopped playing. I was also pretty excited b/c I finally have insurance.
At the end we took refuge in the back of the tournament pickup truck and ate grilled salmon to replenish our energy. After eating, our car went into town to go to a beer festival, which I must say was pretty lame. The weather had something to do with it, but when you walk up and see Budweiser written across one of the trailers, you aren't instilled with a lot of confidence about the quality of the fare. Turned out to be just the truck, but you gotta cover that shit up.
I was lucky enough to be able to talk about my trade for most of the time since we met up with a couple that had played with us and the boyfriend was an Urban Planning student, and on the ride back Kira, the driver, kept asking me about traffic engineering. I love talking about that stuff, but there are very few people who are actually interested in hearing about it. I'm sure my father can certainly empathize.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Dreams
Last night I had some sort of dream where I got myself into some sort of unknown muck by making someone aware of my existence and everyone was telling me that I was really in for it and he was just smiling thinking I was trapped.
So I said, "heh, I exist in a different mental plane than you." And I woke up.
Sucker.
So I said, "heh, I exist in a different mental plane than you." And I woke up.
Sucker.
Friday, September 28, 2007
In College Again
I've finished my first week back in college after an almost 3 year hiatus and have noticed quite a few things that are different. First of all, there is a campus wireless network. We may have had one in Madison when I was there, but I couldn'tve cared less since I would have never even considered getting a laptop.
I've found that, without naming names, there are a bunch of types of people who I used to think were pretty rad, but now I can't help but be annoyed by. There are also others who used to annoy me, but now drive me crazy. Eric, I think you know who we are talking about here. On the other hand I now have great appreciation for the wild-eyed and smelly grad student who runs around campus with dossiers muttering to himself.
There are a lot of things that I took for granted at Madison and must get used to with being on a much much much smaller campus. Only one library and one fitness center are among these. I also had to pay $160 for a term bus pass instead of having it automatically taken out of my seg fees, but perhaps this is better b/c then only those who use it are billed? There are other things that are much easier here too, so it is all just a matter of getting used to it.
I finally got to experience the fabled rain of Portland today, but only in mild form and I was properly dressed. I think it may actually be helpful for me to have lousy weather to keep me inside and working.
I am slowly trudging through all those things that are required to relocate to a new state...still. The latest breakthrough is that I have applied for short-term health insurance while I wait for an agent to get back to me and sell me some more permanent. The benefits should begin tomorrow just in time for my frisbee tournament.
I now have to get my ass in gear with my homework for my research design class. I am really looking forward to this class b/c it will help me to actually have some idea what the hell I'm doing when it comes to research. I do however have to get used to reading 50-100 pages of text every week for one class.
I also have to move all my shit out of my sublet tonight b/c it needs to be vacated before I get back on Sunday.
I've found that, without naming names, there are a bunch of types of people who I used to think were pretty rad, but now I can't help but be annoyed by. There are also others who used to annoy me, but now drive me crazy. Eric, I think you know who we are talking about here. On the other hand I now have great appreciation for the wild-eyed and smelly grad student who runs around campus with dossiers muttering to himself.
There are a lot of things that I took for granted at Madison and must get used to with being on a much much much smaller campus. Only one library and one fitness center are among these. I also had to pay $160 for a term bus pass instead of having it automatically taken out of my seg fees, but perhaps this is better b/c then only those who use it are billed? There are other things that are much easier here too, so it is all just a matter of getting used to it.
I finally got to experience the fabled rain of Portland today, but only in mild form and I was properly dressed. I think it may actually be helpful for me to have lousy weather to keep me inside and working.
I am slowly trudging through all those things that are required to relocate to a new state...still. The latest breakthrough is that I have applied for short-term health insurance while I wait for an agent to get back to me and sell me some more permanent. The benefits should begin tomorrow just in time for my frisbee tournament.
I now have to get my ass in gear with my homework for my research design class. I am really looking forward to this class b/c it will help me to actually have some idea what the hell I'm doing when it comes to research. I do however have to get used to reading 50-100 pages of text every week for one class.
I also have to move all my shit out of my sublet tonight b/c it needs to be vacated before I get back on Sunday.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Woah, Left Y'all Hanging for Awhile
I didn't realize it's been so long since I last posted, but I guess I have been traveling that whole time though. I took lots of notes and lots of pics, so I will probably post pics eventually and hopefully I'll write up a little story of my trip, but considering how things are busy here, that may not actually happen :(
I am here in PDX (Portland). I got here on Friday and I am loving it more and more each day. It does help that I haven't yet seen any of PDX's fabled horrible weather, but I did buy a $180 coat to prepare for it. I have never bought a coat in my life, so that hurt a bit, but I knew that I needed a good waterproof one and I wasn't expecting that to fall in my lap anytime soon.
So here I am in beautiful weather and busier than hell. I have been doing all those things I need to do to start my life here, and as of yesterday, my classes have begun, so now there is homework too. I already went and got my license so that I might be able to register as instate next year. I also have a good lead on a house, but I have to go through a ridiculous amount of red tape for that. I thought NYC rentals were a hassle, but here you have to not only go through a credit check, but they also do a criminal background check. WTF? That sort of invasion of privacy would never stand in Madison. I wonder what the hell the felons do. And of course it is going to cost me $40. Then there is the bureaucracy that I have to deal with at the university. I don't even want to think about all the lines I've stood in and little bits of money that keep leaking out of my wallet. Not to mention the piles of useless information I've received and how many times have I been told to look at the website. I am so sick of being referred to the website constantly when I call businesses, offices, and other such things. I always look at the website first, but it is usually pretty useless and then to be told to look at the website like I'm an idiot when I do ask a question, that really burns me up.
So I am also looking for insurance, which is no fun joyride. And then I am also just taking in this wonderful city. The place is absolutely beautiful. It just has this quality about it that makes you smile when you walk down the streets. There are so many unique little homes and tons of trees. Also, people are really serious about where their food comes from and what's in it that they have gardens everywhere. People even plant gardens in the little strips b/w the sidewalk and the street. And I'm talking about pumpkins, sunflowers, the whole nine yards.
They also take coffee very seriously and there are coffee shops everywhere, which means I am in heaven, especially b/c they pretty much all have really good coffee. The only problem is that this is a pretty early city and lots of stuff closes preposterously early, including many of the coffee shops.
I have been biking my ass off here too. The streets are incredibly bike-friendly and you can get anywhere pretty easily along bike routes. They even have bike boulevards. Most of the residential streets are fairly low-volume, but there are stop signs at every other street to prevent cut-through traffic. Bike boulevards will take a side street and get rid of all the stop signs so that bikes can travel freely. Then to make sure cars don't use it, they put speed bumps all over and then at the main streets, they put medians in the middle of the main street. There are little cuts so that bikes can pass through, but cars have to turn right. Transit is also quite good, but I have been biking so much that I don't really use it.
I have found a lot of ultimate frisbee here, but I only played once because of the whole lack of insurance thing, but I will be playing in a beach tournament this weekend.
I am here in PDX (Portland). I got here on Friday and I am loving it more and more each day. It does help that I haven't yet seen any of PDX's fabled horrible weather, but I did buy a $180 coat to prepare for it. I have never bought a coat in my life, so that hurt a bit, but I knew that I needed a good waterproof one and I wasn't expecting that to fall in my lap anytime soon.
So here I am in beautiful weather and busier than hell. I have been doing all those things I need to do to start my life here, and as of yesterday, my classes have begun, so now there is homework too. I already went and got my license so that I might be able to register as instate next year. I also have a good lead on a house, but I have to go through a ridiculous amount of red tape for that. I thought NYC rentals were a hassle, but here you have to not only go through a credit check, but they also do a criminal background check. WTF? That sort of invasion of privacy would never stand in Madison. I wonder what the hell the felons do. And of course it is going to cost me $40. Then there is the bureaucracy that I have to deal with at the university. I don't even want to think about all the lines I've stood in and little bits of money that keep leaking out of my wallet. Not to mention the piles of useless information I've received and how many times have I been told to look at the website. I am so sick of being referred to the website constantly when I call businesses, offices, and other such things. I always look at the website first, but it is usually pretty useless and then to be told to look at the website like I'm an idiot when I do ask a question, that really burns me up.
So I am also looking for insurance, which is no fun joyride. And then I am also just taking in this wonderful city. The place is absolutely beautiful. It just has this quality about it that makes you smile when you walk down the streets. There are so many unique little homes and tons of trees. Also, people are really serious about where their food comes from and what's in it that they have gardens everywhere. People even plant gardens in the little strips b/w the sidewalk and the street. And I'm talking about pumpkins, sunflowers, the whole nine yards.
They also take coffee very seriously and there are coffee shops everywhere, which means I am in heaven, especially b/c they pretty much all have really good coffee. The only problem is that this is a pretty early city and lots of stuff closes preposterously early, including many of the coffee shops.
I have been biking my ass off here too. The streets are incredibly bike-friendly and you can get anywhere pretty easily along bike routes. They even have bike boulevards. Most of the residential streets are fairly low-volume, but there are stop signs at every other street to prevent cut-through traffic. Bike boulevards will take a side street and get rid of all the stop signs so that bikes can travel freely. Then to make sure cars don't use it, they put speed bumps all over and then at the main streets, they put medians in the middle of the main street. There are little cuts so that bikes can pass through, but cars have to turn right. Transit is also quite good, but I have been biking so much that I don't really use it.
I have found a lot of ultimate frisbee here, but I only played once because of the whole lack of insurance thing, but I will be playing in a beach tournament this weekend.
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