And so it begins...

Our first day of work is tomorrow morning, Monday Nov 1st. sigh.

Salem

Craigslist mania continues to other cities in Oregon now. On this beautiful Saturday we're off to salem, about 45 minutes away, to check out an old drafting table for Ken.

It actually looks like a pretty cool old table, so I'm pretty excited too. Maybe we can create the office setup a la Kristen and Dave or Karl and Misch.

Rob, you're coming between the 16th and 21st-ish? Awesome! Can't wait to see you. If it interests you, we have an extra ticket to the Seahawks game on the 21st -- Ken, Lent & me. 3rd row on the 40 yard line. Want to go? Tailgating after interviews = lots and lots of fun. (Arthur, now you have competition)

-L

Free Desk!

Yep, the craigslist mania continues. Bought an $80 dining room table that we're refininishing. It's a round 4 ft heavy oak table that can extend up to 7 feet. Wow. I can actually seat everyone inside for dinner rather than putting them under the makeshift carport - a la Tucson. I'm so excited. I can't wait to cook in the new house. Bought myself a $25 bike for cruising around, nothing fancy but it will do in a snap. We also got a free giant desk today and actually hauled it out of an old building downtown while Ken was double parked. Just when Hawkins and Lent thought we had enough stuff. Curses.

On the house front, we're still closing on the 16th. Turns out that 15 ft of the sewer was failing and needed to be replaced -- costing about 2400 smackeroos. That's a lot of sandwiches. After a couple days of waiting, we heard today that the seller agreed to cover it. Hooray. They won't be paying for the 500 bucks in other stuff that needs to be fixed, but last time I checked, $2400 was way more than $500, so we're happy. They also are hydrojetting our gutter drains, since the leaves had clogged them all up underground. We also get to keep the cool gas stove rather than them swapping us for an electric one.

So it looks like things are going well with the house stuff. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I know we're taking care of all these things and they're all falling into place nicely, but the wait is killing me and I feel that I don't have anything to show for this past month. still no house. still not working. the paper that I submitted before I left was rejected, meaning I have to rewrite it. None of these things are a big deal. They're all working out fine. Just takes some time. Besides, none of them really matter that much anyway. What matters is that I have a great family, friends, health and a killer husband. Actually, things on that front are going better than I could have imagined. We have spent 24 hours a day together for over a month. That's crazy. It could have spelled disaster, but has been awesome. Wow.

Can't wait for another month and for things to start settling down. Found a great little cafe today though that serves breakfast all day. Within biking distance. Actually, it's owned by the lady from whom we're buying the house. Weird. We were incognito and paid in cash, but it was awesome nonetheless. Looking forward to going there and actually saying hello.

-L

Happy Birsday Ken!

Ken is 31 today! Hooray!

Hi, my name is Lisa...

...and I'm addicted to Craigslist.

www.portland.craigslist.org

In other news, it turns out I have family up here. Second cousins on my dad's side -- same great-grandfather. One of their children even plays guitar in a local band that is pretty good. www.theretrofits.com They're opening for everclear on halloween. I think Ken and I may go. What? I'm going to see live music. What is portland doing to me?

And the collecting begins!!!!!

Just what we need, more stuff. Lisa and I are hunting around Portland this afternoon looking for things for the house.....desks, dining room table, side table, refrigerator, washer and dryer, possibly gas stove, etc.

In our search, we thought it would be cool to have some bikes around so our visiting friends and we can bike from our house to the local pubs, stores, movie theaters and such. So we purchased our first vintage bike!!!!! A 1947 Schwinn Hornet Cruiser for $84!!!!! Lisa's a little scared of it, but I'm actually quite excited about doing some minor restoration on this puppy. Everything works fine, just needs some maintenance and a paint job. Thanks to Arthur for checking into it on short notice as we were on our way to check it out.

Props to Taryn

for finding this site comparing Portland and Tucson. Many of you have been asking about it.

I did a comparison of Portland and Tucson on it,and overall things were pretty similar, except for amount of rainfall and # ofStarbucks - Portland has 45 compared to Tucson's 5. At least there will be lots of places to get coffee to keep you awake in the rain!
TJ

History caught up!!!!!!

I was silenced last night.

Not by Lisa giving me a glaring look after me saying something idiotic. Not by feeling shy and nervous around new people I don't know. No, I was silenced by the one of the few constants in my life that has given me such joy......sports.

You see, I've been an obnoxious Yankee fan for almost 26 years. Ever since my first trip to Yankee Stadium, July 14, 1978 versus the Chicago White Sox. As an impressionable 4 year old, I saw the Yankees down by 1 heading into the bottom of the ninth. They managed to score a run to send it into extra innings. A bottom of the 11th homer won it that day......and then I was hooked. I mean, who couldn't be. Guidry, Munson, Nettles, Gossage, Pinella, Catfish, Dent, Randolph, Reggie. It was awesome!!!

But the events that have unfolded over the last four evenings had me thinking. Does history catch up to us? Could the Red Sox finally beat us in a playoff series? Is this our margin call? As much as I didn't want it to happen (at least not in my lifetime), I knew that eventually it would have to happen....and it did.

And so there I was, sitting in Rob's parent's living room, watching Kenny Lofton ground out to second base to seal the Yankees fate for this year, to cement in history the Yankees' worst collapse and the Red Sox' most fantastic comeback. Without unpleasant events in our lives, we can never appreciate the pleasant ones......right??

They assembled an incredible team. A team that was built to beat us. A team that wouldn't give up. A team with true grit. Rooster Cogburn would have been proud.

So I'm here to applaud the Boston Red Sox. You deserve nothing but respect from Yankees fans far and wide. As an obnoxious Yankee (and life-long Red Sox hater), I have to say that you have all of my respect for fighting back like you did. Well done!!!!

It's about damn time.

Now wouldn't it be ironic if Roger Clemens beat the Sox in a game seven??? He-he.

Check, check, check

This is a long one, so I'll break it down for those interested in just certain parts. Who knew you could still do a manifesto in a blog.

First and foremost,
Happy Birthday Chuck!

Home Inspection
Overall
The home inspection went off without a hitch... a few changes, but no deal breakers. Afterwards, we went down to the records department to check out info on the place. Again, nothing that surprising. We did learn that they're putting in a pub around the corner from our place. Wow. Coffee. Bakery. Pizza. Pub. Haircut. 2 Bus stops. Movie theatre that serves beer. All within a block. Crazy. Now I know why Rachel loves living in cities. I dream of having bikes and riding around instead of driving. Riding on the backstreets and looking at houses on the way to grab a sandwich or drink with Ken and Lent. So fun.

Refinishing the Floors
The hardwood floors guy came today. We'll get a quote back from him to refinish all the floors early next week. We get to rip carpet out our first day in the house. I'm so excited. I pulled up a corner today and they were beautiful upstairs... no paint that needs to be burned off. Hope it's the same for the rest of the upstairs.

Hardware Stores in Portland are Amazing
Found two awesome 'hardware' stores specializing in restoring old houses. Wow. Both have websites as well for those of you not in Portland (mooove here, moooooooove here. you know you want to. end subliminal message)

Rejuvenation to find reproductions and some salvaged originals
Hippo Hardware for the real deal... sort through a hardware store full of old things. You just get to sort through. Oh my goodness. They had to kick us out today as they were closing.

I don't know if its a good or bad thing that they're both close by.

Ultimate Frisbee
Hanging out in town now until Ultimate later tonight... 9 pm. Hmmm. 3 hours. Can't really drink, can't sleep, don't want to eat. Feels kind of like wasted time almost. Especially since we've been in town for 12 hours now. With regard to the Ultimate scene around here, it changes depending on the season. In the winter the teams switch every week, which is nice although I wasn't on Ken's team last week and I didn't know anyone. It was kind of like grade school all over again. Who will be my friend? In winter or spring they organize teams with a draft. In summer you bring your own team. Kind of cool that they shift it around. It's smaller than I expected. Maybe around 60ish, divided among four teams. The crazy part was last week we had nine girls on our team. All good. I know this is Arthur's and Lent's dream come true, but it was kind of a pain to have to fight yet be nice in order to get playing time. Hmm. Hopefully it won't be the same this week.

The Visitors are Coming
Welcome Brian Hawkins to Portland! Brian's arriving tomorrow to celebrate finishing writing his dissertation by drinking lots of beer in an attempt to forget everything he learned in grad school before his defense. Brian, we can't wait to see you.

I think that should about cover things. Off to surf the web. 2.5 more hours to go....

-L

The 1500 Mile Honeymoon

1456 miles. Five days. Portland to Russian River Valley via Grants Pass and the Northern California Coast. Got the Paul Etter college tour. Camped the first night at Patrick's Point State Park in Humbolt overlooking the ocean. Got coffee at Daybreak Inn in Arcata (where Humboldt State is) before making our way to Sebastapol in the Russian River Valley for wine tasting with Rachel and Justin. Stayed up there on Saturday night. On Sunday we all headed back to San Francisco. Ken and I went on our own to see the city.... sausalito, fisherman's wharf, drove down lombard street. The ultimate tourists' tour. I also proceeded to freak out and cry about all the changes going on... scared about buying a house, new job, etc. Ken and I talked about it -- I'm fine now, but for those of you who think we're doing this without being nervous, think again (taryn, this is for you). Had dinner with Rachel, Arthur and Arthurs "lady-friend" (Liz) on Sunday night at an awesome noodle place. Arthur was asked to leave for making out in the restaurant. Wow. Did anyone just buy that? Ok, that didn't happen, but the rest did. Stayed at Rachel's on Sunday night and made our way to Berkeley on Monday morning via Tartine Bakery (awesome pastries and coffee in the Castro). Highly recommend that place, although it gets very crowded. In Berkeley we went to the Cheeseboard and to a handmade pasta place (Phoenix Pastificio.... Hawkins, it was the place from where the brochure I gave you came). Between the two places, we got fresh grated parmesan cheese, some parsley & garlic bucchetti (eggless spaghetti that I'm sure I spelled wrong) and fresh puttanesca sauce to eat that night for dinner. Yum. Made it to Harris Beach on the Oregon Coast (where we camped Monday night) with a stopover in Leggett to drive through a redwood tree (we have pictures).

In all, it was very fun but we're really happy to be home(less). We're back in that internet cafe now... figuring everything out from bus schedules to insurance. Lots of paperwork, but this all has been totally worth it. We can't wait until we can move into the house.

Many thanks to Rachel for her always awesome hospitality, Arthur for driving into the city to meet us, and always to the Church's for giving us a place to stay before and when we got back from our honeymoon.

Home inspection tomorrow! No whammies. Pretty pretty please.

-L

We have a house!!!

We can't believe it. They accepted our offer within 4 hours. That's crazy. We celebrated with champagne and thought through our game plan.... scrub the walls, rip out the carpets, spackle, repaint, refinish the wood floors, rip out the overgrown evergreens crowding the front porch. Eventually, redo the kitchen and bathroom, perhaps add a new bathroom downstairs, maybe add stairs and refinish the attic, demolish the back deck Wow. The options are endless... and we've only been thinking about it for 24 hours. alas, patience part 3... things can wait until we have the time and money to do them all. Have to remember that we can't do all of it in the first year. We close November 16th. Three days before Lent arrives.

We have 10 days to find anything wrong with it -- if so, we can back out. Our realtor (who is a good friend of Sara Burke's dad) knows a great home inspector who is busy until next week. We asked what we should do... i.e. do we postpone our trip to san fran? He said go and have a great time. So, as things are falling insanely into place, we have purchased a house and are heading on our honeymoon to the Russian River Valley and San Fran on Friday morning after our frisbee league the night before. Who's life is this?

In other news, we got to clean gutters! Leaves + water = awesome soil in the making. I think I'm going to love gardening up here. I don't even know where to begin. My head is spinning.

To all of you that posted from yesterday -- I've been nervous about all the repairs that need to be made, but you're so right... we're going to love this.

-L

The Money Pit

So, we're sitting around last night in Rob's parents place watching the Yankees crumble after building an 8-0 lead only to hold on for a 10-7 win. Shortly after the game, my phone rings. It's the realtor, Charles.

"Congratulations Ken!!"

"For what??" (As if I didn't know why he was calling at 9:30pm)

"Your offer was accepted!!!"

"Get out of here!!!"

"Yep, it was accepted without any changes."

I won't bore you guys with the details of the rest of the conversation. But that's right everyone, Lisa and I are one step closer to home ownership. Charles has assured us that the transaction will go smoothly since he knows the other realtor very well. And so begins our chapter of the money pit. Sanding floors, painting walls, remodeling kitchens, etc, etc, etc. Closing is on or around Nov. 16, just in time for Lent and Sara to visit and see this place before the transformation. This place is going to look so awesome after we get done. Home ownership is so liberating. As Rachel said to Lisa last night..."Wow, you guys can do whatever you want".

So let me get this straight, we got married, moved long distance to Portland and had an offer accepted to buy a house all within a three week span. Like Kristen said, all I need to do is get Lisa pregnant and we can get all of the big steps out of the way in a month!!!!!

UMMMMMM.....no. That will be a couple of years from now.

We'll post pictures once we can figure out how to do that. Brian, you use blogger, any suggestions???

Patience, part deux

Well, the house we checked out smelled like dog, cigarrette smoke and was in severe need of a thorough cleaning. So we did what any couple would do and put an offer in on it.

Yep, I'm freaked. Totally shell-shocked, palms sweaty nervous beyond belief.

The house is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath in an awesome location. You've heard them say "look at the bones and location of the house". Well, the bones were awesome (big bedrooms, closets, lots of light, original wood mouldings and pocket doors) and the location was killer (right next to Laurelhurst neighborhood... for those knowing Portland, it's around 29th and Ankeny... one block south of burnside and just east of the 28th ave 'restaurant row'. A block away from the brew & view... beer+movie=happy lisa. A block away from a bakery/cafe, which equals a happy rachel and taryn. Along two major buslines -- about a 10 minute busride (straight shot) to work for either of us.

OK, those are the good points. downside, we need to put in some major elbow grease.... the wood floors need to be refinished, the walls need to be scrubbed and repainted and it needs some spackle. But, those are cosmetic things and we're young... so, we're going for it. Pull out all the stops. Refinish this sucker. sit on the porch. Transplant some trees.

Our offer expires tomorrow morning at 8 AM. Sleep tight and have some patience.

Curses.

-L

Patience

Those of you who know me know I don't have much of it. I get too excited. I get antsy. I want to know. But alas, wait I must. The landlord is checking our references and credit. And although it will all pan out, I am antsy to just know already.

Ah, but the plot thickens.... last night we get a call from our realator saying he found "the perfect place for us". It's right around the corner from the house we were going to rent... i.e. super close to everything. And it's huge. Well, now this long, drawn-out long lease process with the landlord means we may love the other house and put an offer in... skipping the whole rental process altogether. However, Ken tells me this last night. I get excited and pretty much walk around the house aimlessley. He goes to bed. I'm up for another 3 hours sitting on the kitchen floor thinking about what could be. What if.... (Keep in mind I haven't even seen or know anything about the house... except that its 2800 sq ft.) Wow. That's a lot of space. Full-on red ants in my pants.

So here I am in this internet cafe again. Our home away from home for another 30 minutes until we meet with Charles to see the house that 'could be'.

Patience.

-L

Festivus for the rest of us

I love the amount of festivals in Portland. It makes me so happy. We missed the oyster, salmon and onion ones this weekend, but we did get to the tail-end of the apple one. Too late for the bejillion taste tests of different apples, but we got some apple cobbler and ice cream while music played and we walked around the plant nursery. Picked up some apple cider that's chilling in the fridge right now. Tasty.

I know Ken's posting now too... I'm curious how much (if any) will overlap.

Still waiting to hear on the house. We've given them our references and they're going to run a credit check. It is so nice to be able to give that information without worrying about what they'll find out. We drove by the house today and had breakfast in a cafe down the road, walking distance. Wow. I'm so excited. 6 months in that house would be so fun.... halloween, Ken's birthday, thanksgiving, christmas, springtime. Then when spring hits, hopefully we'll have a house of our own.

Which reminds me, our plants are hurting. Beasley's doing fine (the ficus that I named since nobody would name their dog that). However, Ken's dragon's tail has taken a pretty bad beating as did a couple others. Speaking of plants, Ken just told me that the airport people raided his mom's bag on the way back from the wedding and didn't put things back properly... meaning the prickly pear cactus and its millions of spines blew up in her bag (envision putting one of them in a dryer with all of your clothes). Yikes. She said the dress she wore to the wedding is destroyed. That sucks.

I think we're taking our honeymoon this weekend! It's supposed to be nice weather this week, so we'll be heading out on Friday and making our way down to San Francisco. Drink some wine in the Russian River Valley. Eat some great food. Visit the southern oregon and/or northern california coasts en route. See Rachel, Justin and Arthur. Perhaps meet his new girl?? I'm excited. Especially since our stuff is in storage, we aren't working now and we won't have our new place (if we get it) until November 1. I thought honeymoons had to be just the two of us in some secluded location. Ken informed me that they can be whatever we want them to be. Wow. It's so great to have someone who likes the same things as me. This marriage thing is going to work out great.

-L

A virgin in blogdom!!!!!!

Here I am, sitting in front of the computer at this cyber-cafe wondering what it is I should write in my first blog entry. I've commented numerous times on other friend's blogs, but never thought I'd have anything credible or worthwhile to say on one of my own. Now, in a new city again with a wonderful and beautiful wife, and friends all of this massive country, I feel I have loads to say.

As many of you know, Tucson was not my kind of place. Too damn hot, dusty, dry, brown, and hot. I was talking to my friend, Tommy, while everyone was in town for the wedding and he mentioned one thing I've said to Lisa all along about Tucson, that it feels somewhat depressed. His reasoning for that observation was the same as mine, none of the houses had lawns. I know this is true most everywhere in the country, but neighborhoods back on Long Island where the landscaping lacked lush green lawns were neighborhoods that you avoided due to poverty, drugs, gangs and other sketchy elements. They were just plain crappy areas. So, moving to Tucson, in my mind, was moving to one of those neightborhoods. It was something I could never get over. Perhaps over time I would have, but not in the year and half that I lived there.

However, although it wasn't my kind of place, I find I can still appreciate it's beauty. The mountains, the views, the winters and, oddly enough, the summers. It's an experience you'll find nowhere else on earth. But I didn't completely immerse myself in the culture or the town for one simple reason, I knew that I'd be leaving relatively soon and didn't want to get too attached.

One thing I did get attached to were the friends I made there. Although they were Lisa's friends first, I feel I connected with everyone I hung out with down there. The week before we left for Portland, I was sad to be leaving them. Sad to leave Monday night football at the Red Garter, weekly frisbee games, camping excursions and weekends just hanging out. Yes, I even cried a bit. Same feeling I had when I left my friends in NY. You're all a bunch of outstanding people and I'm fortunate to have you guys in my life, hopefully for years to come.

But moving to new place also means meeting new people here in Portland. Yesterday, I practiced with a local Ultimate club team, Scuber Du. Playing with them reminds me of the commercial a while back with David Robinson and, I think, Phil Mickelson. Mickelson has a wedge shot at half court and alley-oops the golf ball to Robinson who dunks it and then says, referring to Mickelson, "Man, these guys are good!". No shit David. These guys ARE good. Basically we only ran a stack-offense and man-defense, similar to Tucson league, but there were very clear differences. One, they didn't cut from the back of the stack, only middle and front. Two, they are not afraid of throwing, and completing a throw, through a crowd. Three, they all have awesome, long hammers. And four, it's wet here. After two straight hours of savage six-on-six playing, I was exhausted but still had enough in the tank to burn a few longs and lay out in the lush green, wet grass. Rather nice change from the Tucson concrete.

Not too sure how these club teams work. Whether I'll get asked to play with them or not is up in the air. I'm not holding my breath quite yet. Fall league starts this Thursday. We'll see how that turns out.

I think that's enough for today for this blog-virgin. Cherry sufficiently popped. Coming shortly, "Portland, Week 1".

Ken

What I've Learned So Far

Taryn called this morning to say hello. Asking how things were going and what we're doing.... When I got off the phone, Ken and I started talking more about Portland.

1. Black walnuts stain. Rob's folks have a black walnut tree in the yard. I peeled one the first five minutes we were there to reap the bounty inside. Lo and behold, my fingers are totally stained and my fingernails and cuticles are black. Seriously. I had to cut my nails back to the nub to get the black off. My cuticles are still stained. It looks like I'm perennially dirty. Or maybe I am.

2. It takes more than two people to move that armoire. Ken and I unloaded the truck last night. We have a giant 12x30' storage room that you get free for a month when you use Uhaul one way. We almost lost the armoire... Ken threw his body under it as it was falling off the ramp and saved it. I got around to the other side and we managed to eek it back up. Misch was right. Moving those things suck.

3. Portland has tons of things to do. Just this weekend alone, there are multiple festivals, including separate ones for apples, onions and salmon. Sweet. My heaven. There's also tons of music shows... I was amazed. Wilco's playing here on November 11, per Rachel. Paul and Taryn would love this place. I like how this town gives you lots of options but doesn't force any of it on you.

4. Not working for a month rules. I love the chance to see everything without worrying about work. What a nice break.

5. You can eat cold weather food here. Wow. We ate steak, mashed potatoes and corn our first night here. Wearing long sleeves and pants. With red wine. Holy cow. This is going to work out great. Also got to go in the jacuzzi last night overlooking newberg. It was raining and cold, but the hottub kept you totally warm while you got the awesome view. Cold raindrops keep falling on my head...

In a nutshell, we're doing great. We find out about that house hopefully tomorrow -- it's a cute little craftsman style with an awesome kitchen and big front porch. $1150 for a 2 bedroom. Not bad. More than Tucson, but it's worth it. There's a yard. A porch. Basement with office, storage, washer and dryer. We can walk to places. What a concept. Hopefully 6 month lease while we look for a place to buy. I won't lie to you, I will be very disappointed if we don't get it.

No whammies, no whammies....

-L

Beginning of an Era

Well, we've made it to Portland. 55 mph -- maximum -- in a Uhaul truck, trailer and car with a freaked out Hughes. Four days. It takes Burke about a day to do it. Argh. Luckily for us, Rob and Jana Church came through for us big-time. We're staying temporarily in their folks' place in Newburg, about 25 miles from Portland.

Still no place lined up, although we have a lead on one place. Lent, you'll like it and can test it out for us. Guest room and all. We're putting our stuff into a storage place today. Hopefully we'll be able to take it easy this weekend and go on a honeymoon next week. Location still TBA.

Ken accepted a job with the Facade group in Portland. We're drinking coffee in an internet cafe. Welcome to Portland.

-L