Avenue Jew

Just watch it--it's funny!

Homeless no more

Well we've been in our new house about two weeks now. We found a place in South Salem. Nothing fancy, but it suited our needs and our budget better than anything else we had looked at. It is good to be in a real house again. We are slowly getting settled in, but it will be months before we are completely unpacked. The garage is completely filled with boxes. According to the movers we had 17,000 pounds of stuff! There's a lot of things we'd like to do both inside and out, but since we don't plan on moving again, we have the rest of our lives to renovate, remodel and redecorate.

Home Sweet Homeless

Well the house in New Orleans is finally sold, so we are officially homeless (well, houseless more accurately) and boy does it feel good. Especially with hurricane season almost upon us again! The movers come tomorrow with the rest of our furnishings so the only reason we'll have to go to New Orleans is just to visit friends and not because of any economic ties. I don't think I'll be returning there anytime soon in any case.

Gary Numan--Jagged

I picked up this album after listening to it on the iTunes music store. There is little to remind you of "Cars" here, other than Numan's instantly recognizable voice. There is a very dark and slightly industrial feel to the album, very NIN in nature but not as harsh. I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this album.

V for Vendetta

I was surprised by how much I liked this film. One of the best films I have seen in the past year. It certainly seems to resonate with today's political climate in this country, even though the original source material was a criticism of the Thatcher administration.

Official residents of "California's Canada"

We went and got our Oregon driver's licenses today. They make you take the written test too so we had to study the booklet. We both got 93% (80% is passing) so we made it without any problems. We went ahead and registered to vote as well. It will be a refreshing change to be voting with the majority for a change. lol.

It looks like the house in New Orleans is sold. Barring any unforeseen problems we will close on May 12. We'll be flying back to New Orleans a week or so before hand to pack up what's left. We'll then be driving back (again!) across country.

Since real estate is more expensive here we are focusing on Salem, the state capital. It is about an hour south of Portland. It is possible to get a lot more house there for the money. It would be nice to be able to stay in Portland, but unless we both went back to work full time (ain't gonna happen!) we just can't afford anything in a decent size or neighborhood here.

"World of Warcraft Teaches the Wrong Things"

I have to admit, I tend to agree with many of the author's points in his article. In the end, World of Warcraft is just a game, and when I no longer get any enjoyment from it I will quit playing it altogether. I already play it significantly less than I once did.

Gamasutra - Soapbox - "World of Warcraft Teaches the Wrong Things"

Badger Badger Badger

Can't believe I forgot to link this before now. Badger Badger Badger

30 Second Bunnies Theatre

Clever and funny! Angry Alien Productions

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I finally finished watching all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now that it's over I feel like I've said goodbye to close friends. At least I have 5 years of Angel to watch now. :)

January 2006 recap

Bear's father died and he returned to Arkansas for the funeral. And we were so hoping that '06 would be better than '05...

December 2005 recap

We got snow. We are so NOT used to seeing that coming from New Orleans! Since we are not accustomed to driving in it we just stayed home for the the few days until it melted off.

Bear had to go to Arkansas to see his Dad who was in the hospital and not doing well, so we were apart for Christmas.

Harry Potter--thumbs up.
Chronicles of Narnia--thumbs down. The children were most annoying. I was rooting for the White Witch!

November 2005 recap

We went back to New Orleans to take care of some unfinished business and to drive my truck out to Oregon. The city was still pretty sad to see. I really don't have much desire to return there again.

On the drive back we stopped in San Antonio to see some friends (Jim and Mr. B)and had dinner with them at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. There really isn't much between San Antonio and Phoenix, AZ. We stopped in Plam Springs and looked around before heading in to LA to visit Tom. Then up to Santa Rosa to see another friend before finally getting back to Portland. We decided to stay put for a while--no more driving!

Boxes!

The movers got here last week and we have been busy sorting through boxes. A majority will stay boxed since we will be moving again when we find a house. It is nice to have access to things again, at least those that we can find without opening up everything. Not too much broken so far, but some we won't know about until the final unpacking.

CNN.com - George Takei, 'Trek's' Sulu: I'm gay - Oct 28, 2005

Who knew?

CNN.com - George Takei, 'Trek's' Sulu: I'm gay - Oct 28, 2005

Settling in

We did get our bed as scheduled and are sleeping much better now. We still go out shopping every day to get misc. things we need and are starting to know our way around our area. We picked up a couple of computer desks and chairs, now we just neeed the computers to arrrive via the movers. No word yet on an e.t.a. on the movers, but hopefully early next week. We also got some mail in our box today. Nice to know that is working.

We are doing our shopping at Safeway (yummy muffins and soups) and Winco (better prices). Both have a good selection and nice fresh produce. The only thing that will take some getting used to is being in Pacific Time. Having always lived in Central Time it is an adjustment as to the tv schedule, and in calling friends back in New Orleans.

Just saw on the news that there is a tropical storm named Beta. Sheesh! I am so glad we aren't on the Gulf Coast anymore!

There's no place like home

We are now in Portland and in our new apartment. We went shopping yesterday and got the misc. Necessities we needed like cleaning supplies, food, etc. Hopefully our new bed will be delivered today. Last night on the air mattress was not a good night's sleep. Today Comcast came by and got our internet set up. It is nice to be back in contact with the world again.

Although yesterday was rainy and overcast, today is a beautiful sunny day. Ah, life is good once again.

Square state du jour

Tonight we are in Ogden, Utah. Kansas and Colorado were fairly boring landscape wise--just rolling grass plains. The view was either grass or sky. Wyoming and especially Utah are much more interesting with the mountains. They are really quite majestic. We were short of breath and thinking we were really out of shape, then we realized we were at 7,000 feet and just not getting enough oxygen. lol. Tomorrow we are off to Boise.

On the road again

So far the trip west has been uneventful. We spent 2 days seeing Bear's Dad in Arkansas, then went on to Kansas City to see his brother. Yesterday we drove across Kansas, then today through Colorado, ending up at Laramie, Wyoming. Hopefully we won't encounter any of Matthew Sheppard's old buddies. Tomorrow we are off to Utah, then Boise, finally getting to Portland on Wednesday. It will be good to get there.

Well that stinks!

Cleaning out a fridge that has sat without power for 5 weeks, that was previously full of food, is one of the worst jobs ever. The smell is unbelievable! Insects larvae and pupae are all over the inside and outside. Luckily since the power was back on it re-froze or it would have been much worse. We were going to just push it out the door, but it wouldn't fit, and the kitchen door wouldn't come off it's hinges so we had no choice. Now if they would just pick up the garbage bags that all the rotten food is in...

On a more pleasant note, we are almost done packing. We get an estimate on when the movers can get our stuff tomorrow. Hopefully it will be soon. Then we're headed west again and on to our new lives. After all, we're on a schedule--we need to get to the west coast in time for the "Big Quake." (Let's hope not!)