Well, I'm back I guess

I see it's been a month and a half since I last updated. I'd say I was busy, which I kind of was, but not that busy and since I've been using that excuse in place of laziness too much, I'm not going to use it this time. I guess I've just been getting discouraged from updating since no one seems to read it since I moved it from MySpace. I might have to move it back, despite how much I hate MySpace. I imagine it's a matter of convenience.
Whatev.
I'm right now in the middle of applying for grad schools while trying to finish up my semester. Actually, the shit has kind of hit the fan workload wise, although I could have significantly less work if I would have done more throughout the semester. I'm getting better at that, but still a long way to go. I also can't really complain since I have it a lot more easy than those people who have full-time classes and work. Some of these people even have families. I don't know how they do it.
I have been absolutely enjoying my time here in PDX. I think I am just about getting over my two month slump, which seems to attack me after about two months in a new place. At that time the novelty has started to wear off, but it isn't enough time to have made any really strong friend connections with good support systems in place. You also still haven't really gotten to know the place yet with solid favorite places or routines. Some of the mundane things that you take for granted in a place in which you are established are a nuisance because you have to go through the process of actually figuring out where the hell to go. For instance, buying shoes, getting a haircut, deciding on a restaurant, knowing what the hell people are talking about when they give you directions using landmarks, going to movies, looking for live music, finding hookers, oops, forget I mentioned that. The nice thing about the ol TMS is that when you get over it, you really start to feel at home. It's like you have to go through this whole fall-apart crappy stage and then all of a sudden all the pieces start to fall into place and you are home.
I took a nice trip back to New York a couple weeks ago. I had a really good time seeing lots of people and hanging out, although I had some incredibly annoying transit experiences. It was fun, but I'm not sure I can see myself living there again. I just really feel at home out here and the geography here is so much better and I don't feel myself getting more aggressive every day. But on the other hand, there are some rather compelling forces drawing me back there, so we will see. I had also given up on it b/c the schools didn't seem to offer what I was looking for, but then I found Rutgers, which isn't in NY, but could be close enough to live there. Rutgers has some professors who are interested in a lot of the same things I am, such as transit/land use connection, bike/ped & health connection, international transportation, etc. So I will definitely apply there.
I have been doing a lot of hiking out here and really loving it. There are so many amazing hikes. This area is just gorgeous.
I am also looking into buying a bar with a buddy out here, but I doubt that will come to fruition. Just seems a bit too ridiculous, even for me.
I must now get to bed, since I am cashed.
Thank you for kicking my ass into gear with this blog Nandi.

I need a walk

Just too much. I'm going into the hills for awhile. Call me for class.

Thanks to Cameron I have now found a new coffee shop. It is a small place on 25th & Belmont that is warm and comfy, has great chill music and really friendly staff. Also tons of books on the wall. I am sitting at my favorite table watching a 3 mo old couple having a rather uncomfortable discussion and it's very cute. Looking back at my life I wish I had had a couple uncomfortable discussions when I didn't. It certainly would have prevented some future discussions which were significantly less comfortable and certainly more painful.
Happily, I will be moving out of my dungeon in Cameron's basement this weekend and into my new place in the Kerns neighborhood, which is right near Laurelhurst Park, ostensibly the best park in the city. PDX is divided into something like 77 neighborhoods and people take their neighborhood very seriously. Quite like Milwaukee, PDX likes to think of itself as a large small town. Although it has a hell of a lot more to do than any small town I've ever been in.
I went to the coast this Sunday with a CSer who is in town from Germany on an internship. It turned out to be really nice. I had been hearing a lot about the coast and how great it was. I was to the coast several years ago and, not having been too impressed, was dubious about the claims of awesomeness. I have been convinced though as the area we visited was incredibly beautiful. There were huge cliffs and views as well as long, sandy beaches. Of course, the water is too cold to swim long any time of the year, but that just means that less people will be around. The drive was also quite nice. The way back we took some very back roads where we saw nobody. At one point I stopped to take a leak and the smell of the forest and the stillness in the air was so great that we just stood around looking at each other and the sky. There was literally not a breath of air and no sounds of life or civilization. The noise of something crashing to the ground came from behind us and we realized that it was a leaf falling. We stood admiring the great still until a car came and ruined the moment.

Beautiful Day

Today is the first beautiful sunny day in about two weeks. I am going to go out and enjoy it in awhile, but first I gotta get some stuff done. It's also going to be nice tomorrow and I'm going to go check out the coast.
I guess that's about it.

Another Letter

Well, since it has been awhile since I've posted, but I'm insanely busy, I will post a letter I wrote to Sonja yesterday...with a little more written after it.
Noticing a pattern here?

begin letter
What a day is right.
I slept in til noon b/c I was up late w/indigestion from eating a Chi style hot dog, chili cheese fries and a coke at 9 PM. I even barfed. Then I got into this huge debate with my roommate about prostitution and when I finally got out of the house today I walked past Gina and saw her tire was totally flat. So I had to spend an hour fixing that, which meant getting the jack out of under all my shit that's packed in there. Then jimmying open the lock on the spare tire b/c I don't have the key. Then the jack is not a typical pump-style, but rather you have to stick this little tire iron into a hole and rotate it with about a 5 inch lever. Yeah that's fun trying to lift a ton of steel by rotating a fucking little bar while laying on the ground. I got to school just in time to go to class, which means that I have to stay here now to send out the resumes I planned to send out before class. I also will have to go to the tire store at some point and see if I can patch the old tire, which I have no clue how it could have popped. I've also been itching to give my bike a good cleaning.
end

I also had two papers due this week; one I started early and was able to write and review and turned in today, another which I am starting now and has to be turned in tomorrow at class at four. I've learned that if I go to bed and then think I'm going to do the paper during the day, well shit doesn't get turned in on time. So tonight I will stay up until I get it at least in first draft.
I met with another professor today and talking with him gave me more motivation to become a prof. It just seems like the kind of work for me, even though it is a lot of it. Of course, now I am vacillating b/w the Urban Studies and the Urban and Regional Planning masters. I just don't know which is going to be the best for me. Both have been suggested, and not surprisingly the correlation between which program was suggested and the program in which the prof making the suggestion teaches has been very high. Well, I have a lot of time to decide, but we all know how quickly a lot of time becomes the last minute.
Another huge surprise is that it rained today. What do you know.
I've decided though that I quite like the rain here and being wet all the time really isn't that bad.
On a side note, does anyone actually read this crap? Was the move from MySpace too much for people to handle? I used to get plenty of comments on MySpace, but here I have received none. Send me a personal email if there is some sort of half-assed problem with leaving comments on this page.

My Brother is Getting Married

Sometime next year. I just found out today. This is my brother Jon for those who know them.

What's Up

I figured that this time I would just post part of a letter that I wrote my ma since it sums up everything nicely. Enjoy.
I am doing wonderful. Very busy myself. The weather here is rainy, but not that I didn't expect that. It's not too bad though b/c it doesn't rain very hard on not too long either. So it is perpetually that damp, after rain feeling which I like. I'm inside most of the time anyway, so that is no problem. At least, not yet.
I am getting some leads on work as well as info about my career path and whatnot. Housing is still up in the air. I haven't heard yet about the place I applied for before, but I would sure like to have a home for myself. I'm tired of jumping around. Eric's g/f has been really cool and hooked me up with a sublet for Sep and then her and her roommates let me crash for the next couple weeks in this little Harry Potter dungeon under the stairs in the basement. I have to duck below light bulbs and beams to get into my room, heh. But it's actually pretty comfy once inside and the price is certainly right.
I really love this city. It is an amazingly pleasant place to walk around. Being a temperate rain forest, sort of, there are tons of really nice trees and everything is incredibly foliated. There are many beautiful houses and many people have their own gardens. The environment is also really good for biking and walking and the bus system is quite good as well. I rarely use my car. There are tons of amazing restaurants as Portlanders are all about their food. Lots of local and organic food and quite delicious. The coffee is also really amazing and there are tons of coffee shops everywhere, although they seem to close pretty early, which is annoying. Actually, everything closes pretty early. I can handle that though, it's just a bit of adjustment after NYC. Does help to stay on a regular schedule, that's for sure.
I am also really looking forward to taking advantage of all the wonderful nature in the area. I don't have a lot of time, but I will definitely need to get out and go hiking, take drives and do other cool stuff. There is just so much.