Not In A Rush

Ahh, the lovely hours of Saturday night (Sunday morning for you East Coast folks). I have a new schedule at my job. I work 6:30am-3:30pm Tue-Sat. Yeah, I worked today. I would have chosen to work Sun-Thur, but I didn't think the bus was going to get me to work on time on Sunday morning (the bus schedules change for the weekends).

There's something about life without a car that really puts your surroundings into perspective. Things that used to be 20 minutes away are now an hour and a half. A seemingly small list of errands to run takes nearly the entire day to do, and about a half hour to plan. Life begins to revolve around bus schedules, and distances by bike, and the weather (which is rarely anything but rainy). Job schedules begin to take form in favor of the bus world. And I begin working on Saturdays.

Before this past Saturday, I hadn't been in a car for over two months. The plan here was to get a car so Arlo could get a proper job. Luckily, he found a job without one two weeks ago, but we thought it would be best to get one anyway. So we did. Nothing fancy, of course. It's a 1988 Toyota Corolla sedan. Yes, she's as old as I am. But she only ever had one owner, and the interior is in fantastic shape. More importantly, the workings of the car are in fantastic shape as well. We've been told this kind of car is a "tank" and nicknamed "indestructible". The 236,000 miles on it were less than ideal, but these babies seem to run well into the 400,000 range before calling it quits. Now that we have the car, we see it everywhere. And it's a good thing when you see multiple 23-year-old cars still out and about.

Speaking of calling it quits, I just put my two weeks in at my current job. It was fun while it lasted, but the nature of the work doesn't quite agree with me. Maybe I'll go into details later, but for now I'll leave it at that. I'm certainly happy to have had the experience, but I need something else. And so the search continues...

Oh, and that place on the hill you say? We're moving in on Thursday. And the view is truly incredible! Pictures are yet to come. Not to mention the house is beautiful and the people are very nice, and have doggies for Damascus to play with! So much transition in so little time. Honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of this. But good things lie ahead, and time brings them closer.

Having a car is a luxury I dearly missed. I did just fine without one, and I think it was really good for me to experience, but oh my dawd does it make things easier! My only concern is that the car is manual, and I have no idea how to drive manual. Arlo is supposed to teach me tomorrow, and I have to be able to do this by Thursday when I'm moving all of our belongings across town (I'm taking the day off). I hope I don't roll backwards down the big hill!

Anyone wanna send me a cheese pizza from Nicolosi's in Phillipsburg? I have been DYING for a decent slice. Ever since I got here, I've seen articles and advertisements for the best pizza in town. I've tried a lot, and I'm extremely saddened by the absence of a good pie here on the West Coast. The closest I've had was from this place called Escape From New York. Most pizza places here use spaghetti sauce.... GROSS!

Ok, I've got some beef cubes and potatoes in the croc pot I should probably take out before I go to bed. Goodnight All!

In a Rush!

Each weekend/day off/few minutes I'm able to be on a computer with full internet access, I look at the link to this page bookmarked in the middle of my favorites, and think about the things I should write here. I think about the great time I just had at such and such a place or the crazy person I just encountered on bus 4, and wish I had the time and energy to write it all down here for future enjoyment or reading or whatever it's for. And as I sit here at Starbucks in downtown Portland, I find myself needing to rush out the door to meet Arlo at a nearby Max station so we can go put a down a deposit on a new place with an amazing view of the town. More details on that later...