You're means you are. Your means your.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

First, I'm posting because I'm going to give this "365 Days" project a shot. Here's my first shot of the new year. I can't seem to embed the photo using the Flickr link, so click here. That's Ty's cat, Jasper.

Our big transition began three days before we rang in the New Year. Ty accepted a new job as the education reporter for the Tri-City Herald and we will be out of Klamath Falls by the end of January. I will have to stop working for newspapers, at least temporarily, and we have no idea what I will do as my main source of income when we get there, but I'm excited for the move. I'm sad that I might have to leave newspapers, but I plan on doing a lot of freelance writing and hopefully some day I can either come back to journalism as a reporter or just write in my spare time. It's a nice idea.

Ty found out about the job four days ago, and our living room is now a maze of stacks of boxes and suitcases. We're trying to live with the boxes, which are going in the basement tomorrow, and make the house presentable for the real estate listing, while recognizing that three weeks is a lot of time to make new messes. There may be some interesting meals in our future as I try to use up all the random ingredients that can't go to the food bank.

Tonight my mom invited us over for dinner, knowing we're trying to pack and clean the kitchen. I haven't had time to cook a nice dinner in weeks, so I made a nice meal of Indian food and we had good conversation. It's been fantastic living in town with my parents but not living WITH them (although my parents are pretty awesome, so living with them wasn't a problem at all, it's just different to be able to have my own space and just have nice visits). I'll miss them, and I'll miss all the friends I made at the Herald and News, but this is a really exciting time for us. Scary, but exciting.

It wouldn't be us if the day went exactly as planned

2011-11-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, Ty and I left on a long-needed vacation and went down to visit several family members in the Bay Area. The trip had been planned for a while and we were really looking forward to it. Sunday (Oct. 30), we spent the afternoon at Open Studio (an event where you can go to the studios of several different artists and purchase art) and had a lovely Indian dinner with Ty's Uncle and his husband and some of their friends. Before we went to dinner, Ty insisted on taking a side trip to Target to buy a new tripod because he'd forgotten to bring his.

Monday (Halloween), we grabbed coffee, took some photos at Twin Peaks, and set out to find City Lights bookstore, an old haunt of Allen Ginsberg's in North Beach. After a slight adventure involving unnecessary treks up and down giant hills, we got back to the car nearly an hour after the parking meter ran out. I thought the fact that we didn't get a parking ticket would be the best surprise of the day ...

All weekend, Ty had been telling me there was an overlook at the Presidio that he wanted to take me to, so we headed that way, only to find it was completely fogged in. We couldn't see anything. No water, no Golden Gate Bridge. Nothing. We kept driving and came upon a beautiful beach with a view of the bridge above the fog. Ty suggested stopping to take photos.

On the beach, we each played around with our cameras and Ty suggested putting mine on the tripod so we could use the remote shutter to get photos of us together. After a few "test shots," he handed me the remote ... and then pulled out an engagement ring and asked me to marry him. If he didn't remember that I said, "Oh my God," a few times before saying yes, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you what I said. I did, after a few seconds, remember to take a few photos.

To answer the obvious question: The proposal was not the point of the trip. We planned it months ago, and Ty decided about a month before that it would be a great place to propose. What he did not know (and doesn't believe) is that for some time, I had been just-for-fun fantasizing about a San Francisco proposal and when we were on the beach, I was thinking "Wow, if he was going to ask, this would be the perfect place." So in the end, even if we didn't wind up exactly where he wanted to be, I loved it and the moment was so close to exactly what I would have wanted that when he actually asked it took me a split second to realize it was actually happening. Everything, from the bridge and ocean in the background of the photos to the ring, was exactly how I would have planned it if given the option. So in the end, the adventure getting to the bookstore and the improvising of a new location were all part of a wonderful day.

After making a few phone calls to parents and grandparents (which took some time because my iPhone decided to chose that moment to stop working for the first time,) we went to get lunch and then headed up to Marin County to visit my dad's brother and his family. We played basketball with my cousins (Juila is 13 and shares a birthday with me. Nick is 8) and then headed out with them and their parents for some trick-or-treating. It was awesome to get to share the proposal with some family in person. My aunt said she had goosebumps when we told her the story.

Day three of our vacation, we were planning on heading up to the Napa Valley to see my dad's sister, but first, I insisted on going to the overlook where Ty had originally intended to propose. It is beautiful and although it would have made for fantastic photos, I don't think I could be happier than I am with the beach proposal.

Love

2011-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

(After I make a dirty joke about a bed commercial)
Ty: "My girlfriend, ladies and gentlemen."
Me: "You love me."
Ty: "I like that you keep having to remind me of that."
Me: "You're stuck with me."
Ty: "Are you saying there's no way out of this?"
Me: "That's what I'm saying."
Ty: "Sounds like a challenge."

We're so nice to each other. :)

Two more days ....

2011-05-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ty's been in Kansas since Thursday. He went out for his sister's college graduation and I couldn't go because I'm going to a family reunion in Indiana next month. So since Thursday, Bugsy and I have been hanging out alone. This means I have to take him for his walk at 5:30 in the morning (as soon as the sun comes up, he instantly thinks, "walk!" and won't let anyone sleep until he gets what he wants) after not getting to bed until after midnight. I'm exhausted and very grumpy, but mostly I just miss Ty. I had Friday and today (and tomorrow) off work, so I've really just been at home alone. I haven't had this much time to myself since I moved from Yakima and while it's been nice to have the time to myself to watch bad Lifetime movies and other girly shows without judgment, now I just want him to be back. Poor Bugsy will lose it when he gets here. He really doesn't understand why Ty's not here. He spends a lot of time looking out the window waiting for the jeep to pull into the driveway.

Sad week.

2011-04-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

Friday night, I came home after a long day at work. It had been a stressful few days and I was ready to get in bed with Ty and relax. I needed to give my 14-year-old cat Nala some medicine and called to Ty to ask if she was in the bedroom. He said yes, and when I walked up to her, I saw she had passed away. It was a rather traumatic way to end the evening. Ty was great and helped me put her in a box (and in the morning, we took her to the vet to be cremated), but I was too upset to sleep and had to work Saturday. Getting through that day at work was awful. I knew Nala had some health problems and that she was getting up in age (we had her twin sister, who did not live with me, put to sleep a few months ago), and I always hoped she would die at home so I wouldn't have to put her through the trauma of riding to the vet in the car, but I also wasn't expecting to be at work when it happened. I don't even remember if I interacted with her that day. Ty said when he left for work in the morning, she was lying on top of me purring while I slept, but I don't remember seeing her other than to give her her morning medicine. I've had Nala since she was born. In fact, she was born on my bed while I was still in it. I was away in Eugene for about six years of her life, but for every other day of the rest of her life, she slept in bed with me and always, if she was sitting near me, purred loudly enough to make it hard to hear the TV. I'll miss her.

Adventures in dog ownership

2011-04-11T16:32:00.001-07:00

Saturday, Ty and I got back from running errands very eager to make sandwiches out of some challah he bought from our favorite bakery while on his morning walk with Bugsy. I asked where the bread was -- we keep it on the counter but he sometimes freezes it -- and he insisted it was there. That's when we saw the empty bread bag on the living room floor. At first, it was just annoying that he cost us $4 and we didn't get to eat any of the delicious bread, and the bakery was closed by then.

Over the next 24 hours, we had other reasons to be concerned. Bugsy began to show signs of intestinal distress, including gas so horrendous it could be used to make biological weapons. He looked bloated and was clearly uncomfortable, breathing more deeply and panting more often than normal. So, we made an appointment at the one vet in town open 7 days a week. He got an x-ray to make sure his intestine wasn't completely blocked and $150 later, we brought him home with some pain pills to just wait for it all to come out. By the time we woke up today (Monday), he seemed back to his old self ... except for one thing. My first thought when I saw him this morning was, "why is he orange?"

Ty left for work before I woke up, but he wrote a note explaining the dog's new fur color. An empty container of paprika and a white leather chair tinted the same orange as the dog's fur.

I called the vet and was told to just wait for it all to pass.

The closing line of Ty's note?

"We may need to rethink how we organize the kitchen."

50 book update

2011-02-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm barely hanging on for the 50-book challenge. But I do have two more to add to the list.

1. Game change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. This is an "insider" book about the 2008 presidential campaigns. It's mostly unsourced, so it's hard to tell how much is really accurate, but a lot of the stuff about the Obama campaign is information I've read in other books. A lot of the book is dedicated to the Democratic primary and is about how much Hilary Clinton really thought she was going to win. There are lots of details about how the Edwards campaign imploded and how Obama's success surprised the other candidates. Then there's a section on the McCain campaign and the lack of vetting and preparation before choosing Sarah Palin as VP. I realize you have to take unsourced books with a grain of salt, but it's pretty entertaining and I've read multiple chapters in single sittings.

2. Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela . This is a collection of letters, journal entries, autobiography transcripts, and transcripts of conversations that Mandela wrote/had during his time in prison. It's fascinating. I'm finding it hard to piece together Mandella's real story from the little fragments, but it's quite interesting to read about his mindset as recorded during the actual prison stay. I plan on reading his actual autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom," later in the year. Don't be fooled by the fact that Amazon is listing this as by Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. Obama wrote a very short prologue and definitely should not be listed as a coauthor.

New Year's Resolution

2011-01-09T12:35:00.001-08:00

Things have been pretty normal around here. Not much to blog about, really.

This year I resolved to take on the 50-book challenge again. I've done it a few times before, but never while holding a full-time job. But, it's something I'm trying because the piles of unread books in my house are growing at an exponential rate. Neither Ty or I can resist a bookstore, and if there's a sale at Borders, we wind up adding to the pile and subtracting from our bank accounts. He's trying it too, and at the moment, while I should be working on book #3, he's sitting next to me making an admirable attempt at reading "Walden."

I'm cheating a tiny bit by including books that I started toward the end of 2010 in my total. So, here are my first two:

1. "Obama's Wars" by Bob Woodward. I love Woodward and have read most of his books since the Bush administration. He tends to just present a ton of information with no real point-of-view, so his style can be a bit tedious. But I liked this book, which is about the differing opinions within the military and administration on the war in Afghanistan. It's as much about the "war" of opinion than the actual war. Worth a read if you like politics but don't want to read obviously biased books.

2. "The Girl Who Played With Fire," by Stieg Larsson. I decided to read this after working for months on "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" last year. The main problem I have with these books is the strange syntax. It's very obvious that they're translations and I'm not sure if the problem is the translator or that Swedish itself is hard to translate to English. But Ty read an article last year about Larson that said his syntax is strange even in the native language. He starts off slow -- I've found that the first 100 pages or so of both his books were pretty boring -- but the pace picks up throughout the book. After reading at most 50 pages or so at a time, I read the last 200 without stopping. There's a nice twist at the end and there's some more mystery added (and explained) to the story of the main character. It's good enough to make me want to read the final book in the triology. Also, Larsson has an obsession with mentioning full brand and model names of products on every reference. It's like he's being paid for product placement. It would be like if instead of just referring to my phone as a phone, I referred to it as my "red Blackberry flip from T-Mobile" but called it that EVERY TIME I mention it.

3. "The Big Burn" by Timothy Eagan. Technically, I haven't finished this yet, but I'm more than halfway done and have two days off work without plans, so I will probably finish today. This one is about devastating forest fires in the Northwest at the start of the 20th Century and how they shaped the people and the land. It's also about the early days of the Forest service. It's just a good story. Eagan has a talent for making non-fiction read like a novel. I'm not liking this one as much as I liked "The Worst Hard Time," but it's definitely a good read.

Next up: "Conversations with Myself" by Nelson Mandela, "Ford County: Stories," by John Grisham (I know, I know. I like the type of pointless airplane books Grisham writes. I like something I can read in one night and not have to think about); "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, and "World War Z" by Max Brooks.

My friends

2010-09-08T23:19:00.001-07:00

The only good thing about having been sick? Every time I came home early or stayed home all together, my cats slept right next to me, keeping me company. Tonight we're all doing well, but I'm still enjoying the purring and cuddling.

The summer

2010-09-08T23:00:00.001-07:00

I keep telling myself I'll blog more, but I never do. I recently wrote in a real journal for the first time in years and told myself I would start doing that more often. But I didn't. I've been missing writing lately and need to start trying to get in the habit again. It's hard when I have to be careful about political commentary and don't really like writing fiction.

The arrival of cool weather seems to be signaling that summer is over. I have slept with my windows closed for the last week and it doesn't seem like I'll need to open them again. We had some warm weather, but it certainly seems to have been a mild year. Summer was fun, though. After some of our mutual friends moved, "Kansas" became the default host of all parties, since he owns a house in the neighborhood most of our friends/coworkers live in. There were lots of barbecues (Meaning, I spent a lot of time eating nuked boca burgers while everyone else declared whatever meat our friend Terry had cooked to be "his best barbecue ever"), and lots of games of Apples to Apples. Kansas and I did some traveling together and are hoping to take another short trip the weekend of my birthday. I'm really happy with the way things are going with the relationship and while there's still new territory, I'm excited to see where it goes. It's been just about a year now and I'm so grateful to have someone so awesome.

The past few weeks have been tough -- I caught some type of bug and for two weeks had virtually no appetite, lots of trouble sleeping, and pretty bad nausea. After two trips to the doctor and two blood tests, one of which I have not heard back on, I still don't know what was wrong, except that I had a slightly elevated white blood cell count, but today I'm feeling really well. I started to feel a bit better Sunday but today was the first day I had some energy and ate three real meals. I'm knocking on wood hoping it continues, but I think whatever it was is out of my system now. I called in sick to work or left early several days and was tired of not working.

This weekend, a bunch of us are going to an area fair, which should be a lot of fun. After that, I have a week and a half of work before taking a few days off for my birthday trip and then another week of work before I get an entire week off. Kansas' parents are going to be in town the first few days of my vacation, and I'm getting nervous about meeting them. I've never met a boyfriend's parents before, so I'm trying to stay relaxed about it. Should be an interesting time.

Tofu's big adventure

2010-03-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

So this weekend was interesting. Saturday was a day that started out very sad and ended very happy. In between, I discovered how awesome it is to have a boyfriend who will give up half of his weekend to do something nice for me/my family.

On Saturday morning, I was out running errands with Kansas and generally having a pretty good day when my mom called to tell me our dog (a 7-pound mini dachshund named Tofu Smart Dog) got out of the yard and was MIA. She'd driven around the neighborhood looking for him and a few people she saw out on the street had seen him, but no luck. The Humane Society had already closed for the weekend.

Kansas and I went home and walked around the neighborhood, which includes quite a few steep hills, for about an hour handing out our phone number to people who were outside and asked them to look for him. We didn't find him and came home. My mom was really devastated about losing the dog (the gate somehow was left open). Kansas and I went out again for a while before coming back to help hand out fliers. Mom and dad and two of their friends divied up the neighborhood with us and we walked around knocking on every door to hand out fliers. We put them up on posts and in paper boxes and on car windshields. A few people had seen him, but the reports of just where he had been seen were varied and indicated he'd run up on the mountain behind the neighborhood. He'd been gone for about 9 hours. At this point, it was dark and cold and we couldn't do anything. Dad bought us pizza and Kansas and I, both completely exhausted, promised to get up in the morning and hike up the mountain to look for Tofu. I was pretty confident he'd be all right and that if he wasn't in someone's house, he'd be able to find his way home and that he knew I feed the cat on the porch late at night (he likes to lick out the cans).

Kansas went home and my very sad parents went to bed. I was about to turn off my TV and go to sleep when I heard a far-off, quiet, familiar bark. I was watching a show with a dog in it at the time, so I wasn't sure if I'd really heard anything. I got up and went out into the main room, where the doggie door is, and called the dog's name. He didn't come, but I heard a bark again. I decided to look in the front yard, and as soon as I opened the door, a VERY tired, limping little dachshund ran into the house. His paw pads were scraped up and he was starving, but he was home. My parents were of course overjoyed. I sent Kansas a text message (that he didn't get until the next morning) and we stayed up for a bit with the doggie, who ate about half his body weight before passing out on my dad's lap.

Sunday, I drove around the neighborhood with my odometer set and if Tofu was really seen everywhere people told us he was, he covered about 3 miles on those teeny little legs. Even I wouldn't have wanted to make that walk up those hills.

What I wouldn't give to know what he really did that day.

Life is good

2010-01-13T01:30:00.000-08:00

Winter in Klamath Falls is awful. Snowy mountain passes make leaving town a treacherous prospect and the sense of isolation can be stifling (I just want a decent place to shop. But it's not worth a 2 hour + drive through snow to get to Medford).

This year's not so bad. There's no snow yet, which makes it possible to leave town (although the lack of more than one consecutive day off puts a damper on things). But I remembered something. This town is ugly in the winter. It's brown and drab and while the sun is usually out — a nice change from the Willamette Valley — everything at eye level is just boring. A few feet of sparkly white snow helps things. So I'm missing the snow. And it's only a little bit because of the $400 snow tires I bought that won't be paid off until after the legal date to remove them.

The tediousness of winter aside, things are good here. I don't make much money, but I still love my job and am in the profession I want to be in. The job itself is stable. I'm lucky.

Things are going well with my new relationship with "Kansas," (the nickname a friend came up with for my boyfriend). Having technically been single my entire life, referring to someone as "my boyfriend" still feels foreign, but it's definitely a great thing. The relationship is at a place that's very comfortable for me now. Trying to work spending time together around our very different work schedudules is difficult, but I think sometimes that makes the time we do have better. Tonight is one of the nights when I wish we could be together. We won't have any time away from work until this weekend (fortunately, a long one for me), and I can't wait.

The other day, Kansas and I were in the store and somehow the topic of astrological signs came up. When I explained my very amateur analysis of the differences between Libras (me) and Virgos (him), he said, "How do we get along?" I can't think of any ways we don't. We still have much to learn about each other, but there's nothing yet that I'd describe as a negative. There are things we disagree on, and things each of us finds weird about the other, but it's all good for now. The things I'm still learning make me more interested. Lately, the little things are making me the happiest. It's a feeling I'm still not quite used to, but one that makes my day better. I'm in danger of becoming one of the happy people I used to hate, and I'm a little flummoxed by the fact that I'm this happy in Klamath Falls, the place I spent my life trying to escape.

Three months.

2009-11-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

Three months since my last post and the high school reunion, which now seems so far off. Three months past the end of my first 90 days of work. And just a week or so until my six-month anniversary at said job. Maybe I'll update more often.

When I moved back to Klamath Falls, it was supposed to be a very temporary situation. I was going to find another job and crash rent free to save up my unemployment. I never expected the paper here to hire me, seeing as how they had JUST hired a reporter and copy editor and I knew the budget was tight. Then somehow, there was an opening. So I started work less than a week after learning about existence of the position. Thing 1 that wasn't supposed to happen here.

Around the time of the reunion and my last post on here, I started spending time outside of the group setting with a coworker I'll call Kansas (nickname courtesy of a Facebook friend who remembered nothing I told him about Kansas except his home state/alma mater). By my birthday in late September, we were dating. While we've never really had an official "what are we doing" conversation, it's definitely been a relationship for about two months now and a few days ago changed our Facebook statuses, which apparently makes it "official." It makes me feel about 13 years old to get all excited about Facebook, but I suppose changing your relationship status is the easy way to tell all your friends you're officially off the market. The LAST thing I would ever have expected was to move home and find a boyfriend. After so many years of being single in Eugene, I come back home and find a great guy. Weird how things work out.

Being in a relationship is a new thing for me, and while I'm happy and excited about it, it's a strange adjustment after so many years of being single. I'm quite comfortable and am interested and excited to see where things go from here.

Other than that, there's not much to report. Between work and time with Kansas, there's not much time for anything else. Living with my parents has a few stresses, but financially it's the best option as long as I can stand it. They're not at all controlling and my dad is a good enough cook to make up for about 99 percent of the things that irritate me.

10 years

2009-08-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, I went to my 10-year high school reunion. I'd been debating since high school whether I'd really be willing to go but when I found out that it was this summer and I knew I'd be living back in my home town, I decided to go.

It really was a far better experience than I'd expected (I must say, I think I look far better than I ever did in high school and a few people commented, so I had a somewhat shallow boost of self-esteem). The turnout was small, but I liked (or at least got along with) all but two of the people who came. I enjoyed chatting with everyone and it was interesting to hear what people are up to. I am in contact with a few people from Facebook or MySpace, so I knew what some of them have been doing, but had a good time talking to those I hadn't been in contact with. Some of the guys in particular are doing things completely unexpected. One guy is a stay-at-home dad with a young daughter — the absolute last thing I'd have predicted for him 10 years ago. It's amazing how many people from my class now have multiple children, but it seems that parenthood changed people for the better. One guy's wife was going around apologizing to people for what a jerk her husband was in high school, (He really, really was. In fact, he was the one person who on the day of the reunion I thought about and hoped he wouldn't be there) and when I talked to his wife for a minute she mentioned how being a dad made him a much nicer person. And told me something about him that I won't repeat here but that made me smile more than just about any news I've heard all year.

One of the girls I was kind of friends with back then but haven't seen since gathered up some liquid courage and told the guy who'd tormented her in high school about how awful he was. He was rather inebriated and didn't seem to believe he'd been THAT big of a jerk, but he did apologize to her. The conversation was entertaining to watch and I was glad that she did it. It probably felt good to get that off her chest after so long.

Saturday, we had a family picnic and while only about 10 people showed up, all with their kids, I did enjoy seeing the people I talked to there. I'd been wondering about this reunion for years and of course wasn't as wealthy or skinny as I'd hoped to be, but the people I really wanted to stick it to weren't there anyway and I realized how little any of that really matters now. In a discussion with some other classmates about who we disliked, no one even remembered the person I'd had the most trouble with, which oddly made me feel better. The 10 years went by so quickly but the reunion was a reminder of how long it has been. Going to the reunion did bring a sense of closure and I'm happy that I went.

The routine

2009-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm settling into my routine, such as it is, at the new job. I have split days off and work strange hours, so it's hard to find time to fit in other activities. Fortunately, my coworkers are all great and we hang out together a lot, so my social life revolves around other people who understand the weird schedule.

A week ago, my best friend Kim and I went to Crater Lake. She'd never been there, so the original plan involved hiking down to the shore to take the boat tour. Because I didn't pay enough attention to know which side of the lake to go to to purchase tickets, we missed out on the tour, but thought we would hike down anyway. I'd never seen it from the shore. "The hike can't be THAT bad," I thought. "I'll take it easy on the way up and my legs will hurt tomorrow, but it'll be OK."

The downhill part of the hike went well. It's a gorgeous hike and the weather was cooperative. The lake definitely looks different from that perspective and it's interesting that the deep blue color is just as intense from the shore.

The hike back up did not go as well. I'm out of shape and knew I'd have to stop a lot walking back up the hill (a mile-long STEEP trail that is a 1,000-foot change in elevation, or, according to the sign at the top of the hill, the equivalent of 150 flights of stairs), but I had a strong reaction to the altitude. The shore is at 6,100 feet or so and the top of the trail is about 7,100. Almost immediately after starting the hike my pulse was far faster than it's ever been and I thought I was going to pass out. I even got a bloody nose, which has never happened at all. I found myself hoping that if I did collapse, the next person to walk by would be capable of running up or down to get me medical help. They aren't kidding when they say it's strenuous. Of course I realize this means that I need to do much more cardio work at the gym, but I was amazed at how difficult it was. It's really quite unfortunate because the view from the shore is amazing, but I don't know if I'd ever want to do it again without training specifically for that activity for a long time.

I did get some great photos.

New Job

2009-06-18T23:19:00.000-07:00

I'll be in Klamath Falls for quite some time. About two weeks ago I started working as a copy editor at the newspaper here. The job came up very quickly — I heard about it very soon after they decided to hire someone and was offered the job a few days after applying — but I'm happy with it. It's good experience and I'll get a lot of great clips out of it. I wanted to stay in Oregon and spending a couple of years living low-rent still within a weekend trip of all my friends and family makes me happy.

The job is great so far. I've got a lot of training to do, but I think I'm doing well and my coworkers are great. Everyone is really nice and most of the reporters and other copy editors are close to my age.

Tonight I went downtown with my friend Jill, who is a reporter at the paper. It was "Third Thursday," when all the businesses stay open later and there are food booths and live music performances all over. It was fun to get out and walk around. The weather finally turned nice again after two or three weeks of nothing but rain and gray skies almost every day. It's very unusual for it to rain here, let alone that much.

For now, I'll be working split days off, but that's OK with me. I'm happy to have found a job in journalism and to be back in a newsroom with other people who want to talk about politics and grammar. It's fantastic.

If the clouds ever go away, I'll take a picture of the gorgeous view of Mount Shasta as seen from the newsroom window. The newsroom in Yakima was in a basement. Having any view at all is a vast improvement, but I'm particularly fond of this one.

Update

2009-05-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Things are going slowly since I moved back to Klamath Falls. I've realized that few newspaper jobs are in cities where I want to live, and having to choose between a job I'd love and a city in which I'd be happy is difficult right now. I don't have to pay rent for a while, which gives me the ability to be a little picky. I'm starting to think seriously about what my other options are.

This isn't the most exciting town and it's a hard period of adjustment being back here again, but it's kind of nice. I do actually like my parents and enjoy spending time with them even if the town is boring. Yesterday, my dad and I went to Crater Lake. It is nice to live so close (about 60 miles) to one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

No news

2009-05-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

There's not much new to report here. Life is boring,and testing whether
I can update from my blackberry is the most interesting thing I have to Do. Real update soon. Today I went to crater lake.

Saying goodbye

2009-05-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

This was my last day in Yakima. Tomorrow I make the big move down to Klamath Falls. Because I have no one to drive a U-Haul for me (I just don't feel safe driving one, particularly if it's towing my car, and there's no room in the front of one for my cat carriers), I had to do one trip down to Klamath a few weeks ago and had to condense down to what would fit in a car. My mom and I traded cars because hers has a lot more room than mine does, and it was still quite a feat.

I gave a lot of stuff to Goodwill and contributed several boxes of household items to a friend's garage sale and even then took more bags than I remembered to count to the dumpster. I had to throw away most of my food (a lot of it perfectly good, but that I couldn't donate because it had been opened), all my cleaning supplies and various things that I just realized as I packed up the car today would NOT fit. I also had a trip to the recycling center this week where I learned that a lot of types of plastic, as well as ALL glass items, are no longer recyclable here. I feel absolutely awful knowing that there's what felt like an entire dumpster full of stuff that will be in a landfill forever because I live in a place where I can't recycle everything or because I couldn't get the help I needed to move. I'm not a hoarder (although I am a bit of a pack rat), but I keep stuff around just because I try to be pretty "green" and hate the idea of something lying around a landfill if it might have use to someone or if I can find a place to recycle it. But I just reached a point in my packing process where I didn't give a shit anymore. The sad thing is, I didn't own an unusual amount of stuff. It all had a place and could be put away. I just owned what any adult who's been on her own for nearly a decade would own. And it turns out that's a LOT. A lot that will have to be replaced when I find a new job and move away from the parents. Again. I own far too many books for just one person, but I love books. There's not a place here I could really donate them and I will NOT throw books away. Maybe someday if I really have to pare things down I'll give them to the library, but I love books and will read (or re-read) every one of them.

Tonight I'm staying in a hotel, while my poor cats stay on their own back at the apartment, because a friend took all my furniture this morning and then I foolishly packed all my blankets and sheets away. I have a very long drive and thought I'd be better off if I got a comfortable, relaxed sleep than if I tried to sleep on the floor sans blankets. Went on Priceline and got an amazing deal on a room, so I'm quite proud of myself.

I'm quite cranky at the moment because I'm in pain from trying to lift very heavy trash bags/boxes and having to do everything myself (other than the furniture, which I had help with) made me feel rather alone and frustrated. I'm feeling much more sorry for myself than is really called for, but I think if this ever happens again, I'll definitely suck it up and learn to drive the damn U-Haul.

I'd be lying if I said I'd miss Yakima, but I'll definitely miss some of the people I met here and I'll miss my apartment, which I actually really loved. A friend from work had just started to invite me out with a group of her friends, who are really cool people, and I'm sad that I didn't get the chance to know them better. One of them, a man from Mexico City who works for Univision (I think...) helped the work friend and I move all my furniture to her apartment today. As we drove in the U-Haul, he kept saying goodbye to various things in Yakima. I won't miss the town itself, although there are interesting things about living here, but I'll miss the people I didn't get to know better. And I certainly still miss my job.

Now I'm off to find a vending machine, have a cup of tea and try to enjoy my last few hours before I have to get up and spend 8 hours in a car with two cranky cats.

Pictured at the top of this post: The wiener dog races in Ellensburg, Wash., about 40 minutes from here. One of the more entertaining things I did in my first month in Yakima last year.

Daily project

2009-04-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

As my time in Yakima winds down, I'm finally getting a few leads on the job search front, but still need to fill the daylight hours. Yesterday I came across a recipe for homemade bagels and thought I'd give it a shot. It's not like me to be so ambitious, but I love bagels and they're expensive, so I figured that learning to make my own could save me money. The results were quite pleasing to my eye and tastebuds:

How I feel about what I just did ...

2009-04-17T21:10:00.001-07:00

I can't really explain here, but if you ask me on a more private setting, I'll tell you what this photo refers to.

Two months of unemployment

2009-04-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday will mark the two-month anniversary of my lay-off. There's not much news to report.

Now that I know I'm moving back in with my parents and will be off the hook for rent for a month or two, I'm a little less stressed out about living on unemployment money. I don't really want to go back to Klamath Falls, but it's easier to at least know what's happening. At this point, I almost hope that it takes several more weeks to find something new so that I have some time to settle in a bit before I have to move again.

The problem I'm having now is finding three jobs per week to apply for. It's required, but there just aren't three journalism jobs being advertised per week. There are plenty of jobs I am not qualified for, but I don't want to just apply for things I wouldn't be offered any more than I want to apply for things I wouldn't take.

At this point, I'm starting to accept that I may have to look in another field. There are ways to use these skills in other ways.

The freelance writing thing hasn't panned out yet. The Web sites I've applied for are mostly looking for how to articles or opinion pieces, which isn't what I want to do. They're not looking for journalistic pieces.

In the meantime, I'm spending much more time online than I should, simply because I'm trying to avoid the last bit of packing I still have to do. it's at that point where everything left is just little stuff lying on the floor and knick-knacks, or stuff that has to go to Goodwill and it's just a pain in my ass.

The fun thing that I've done this week is go to the Mariners home opener. I've been a fan of Ken Griffey Jr. since I was a kid and I wanted to see him come back to Seattle. It was a beautiful day and a friend who also went to the game met up with me afterward (I crashed at his place) and on the way home, we ran into a mutual friend and went out for a beer with her at Pike Place Brewery. It was a perfect Northwest sort of day.

Thank you, MSNBC ...

2009-04-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not entirely clear on how this got past the censors, except that this is what a movement is calling itself, and I'm aware that it stoops to the intellectual level of a 13-year-old boy, but I laughed my ass off.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Lazy Saturday

2009-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things about unemployment is that you can either have a lot to write or absolutely nothing. The search for work can be an interesting job in itself, if you're willing and/or able to do anything, but if you're determined to work in a specific industry, the process of looking gets a tad monotonous.

After about two months of looking for work (I started the search around Feb. 5 — the day we had a union meeting to discuss the fact that we knew there would be layoffs and that my job was one of the ones most in danger), I finally got a few responses to resumes. I don't want to mention anything specific for fear of jinxing the process, but I do have at least one solid lead that I'm confident about. It's a paper on the west coast, which would be great. I've been in contact with some people from that paper all week and one was supposed to call me yesterday regarding an interview, but he didn't. Here's hoping they were just busy.

The other lead is less sure, but I got an e-mail from an editor telling me he was narrowing down who to interview. I know it wasn't a form e-mail because he referenced a very specific, personal part of my cover letter. That job would be farther away from the west coast but is close to some family.

If nothing else, I'm just happy to have gotten some response after all this time. I'm about to send out some more cover letters — I have to do three per week while I'm on unemployment — but I'm feeling a bit better. One thing's certain. The countdown to leaving Yakima has begun. I've given notice to be out of my apartment on May 3, and if I don't have a job by then, I'll be staying with my parents until I do. Knowing whether I have a job would make it easier to decide how to deal with my stuff (particularly if I have an offer from a place that will pay moving expenses), but the sure thing is that by the end of the month, I'll be off the hook for rent and utilities or moving somewhere where I have a steady paycheck and can take care of those things without stress.

Tonight I'm going to a party with a work friend and some of her friends. I met them last week at a fun party at this really cool farm house out in the country where they tried to teach me to Salsa. It was a fun time. It figures that right when I'm ready to move, I finally start meeting great people and feeling really comfortable with the friends I have made here. I've always considered myself to be someone who made friends easily, but it's been hard here. It was the first time I ever moved somewhere where I didn't know anyone (including when I went to D.C. for the summer) and I just felt like the new kid in school. I just didn't have the confidence to call people and invite them places, even when we were friends at work. I haven't felt like myself in a long time, and I hope that wherever I go next, that changes. I need to figure out how to make the most out of wherever I am and I hope I've learned to do that.

Unemployment Week Four(ish)

2009-03-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well, a month in and still no job leads. I'm finally having to accept how tight money is on unemployment and for the second time in my adult life, am going to move back in with my parents. I'm in Yakima until April 30 and then it's back to the hometown. Hopefully not for long. It's not my ideal option but at least I won't have to pay rent. The worst part? It's not possible to buy a national newspaper in Klamath Falls. No NY Times, no Wall Street Journal, not even USA Today! I'm going to go crazy. In the meantime, my friend Brant posted this link on my Facebook that pretty much sums up how each day has gone since I lost my job.

This week, I'm meeting my parents at the Oregon Coast for a short vacation and then it's back to Yakima to start packing and getting rid of stuff. Anyone want to drive a U-Haul from Yakima to Klamath Falls for me?

On Friday, I mentored a student in a journalism workshop at my old paper. It's a workshop they've been doing for seven years. After a Friday night dinner, the kids -- all in high school, except my student, who's an eighth grader -- come in on Saturday, report in the morning and write a story in the afternoon. I took my student to a DVD release party for "Twilight" on Friday night and we came back and wrote in the morning. Since we had free time, we went out to report on a yard sale at one of the high schools. So my student was not only the youngest ever to do the workshop, she was the first to do a Friday night assignment and the first to do two stories! It was really fun. Walking around helping her do interviews just served to remind me how much I love reporting. This is not the time for me to find more reasons that I want to stay in newspapers. I've been trying to convince myself to look in other industries, but this is all I want to do. Something's going to have to give.

Edited to add: When I made the reservation for this hotel in Portland (staying here tonight to make it easier to get to Lincoln City early tomorrow), I wondered why it was so cheap. It's a pretty nice place. A train just went past, and I think I have my answer. Here's hoping the conductors don't blow the whistle in the middle of the night.

Homesick

2009-03-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

I went down to Eugene this weekend for a visit. I hung out with several, but not all, of my friends and had some delicious food (no good restaurants in the current town). I've only been there twice since I moved away, and I'd forgotten how pretty it is. The winter rain may be a bit depressing, but everything is so green. I'd also forgotten how much I love just walking around Eugene. I always felt so at home there and nothing's changed. Whenever I go back to Oregon, there's a moment in the drive at which the vegetation starts to change from the desert of Eastern Oregon/Washington to the lush green grass of the more rainy Willamette Valley, and right about then, every part of my body relaxes. I felt that way when I was a college freshman, brand new to the area, and I feel that way now. It feels like home. Some part of me knows I'm supposed to be there.

As I drove away, the homesickness set in. I was relatively happy in the current city, even though I only moved here for the job, but leaving Eugene felt like leaving home to stay in a temporary place. I also know I can't go back there to live. I've started to look around the country for new work and have accepted that I'll have to leave the Pacific Northwest. But as I watched Eugene get smaller in my rearview mirror, I realized I may not be back for quite some time, and it made me sad. Moving away to a new part of the country will be an adventure, and one I'm ready for, but being far away from Oregon will be hard.

Gee, I wonder why the cirucuits are busy ...

2009-02-23T16:43:00.001-08:00

This morning, I needed to call and file my weekly unemployment claim. Because I've never done it, I had some questions about what I had to report out of my last check.

Over the course of a half hour, I kept dialing, only to have the automatic system tell me there were too many callers and hang up. I must have dialed 20 times before I finally got put through the call tree, and even then, I sat on hold for half an hour (thank god for speakerphone) before someone answered.

Nothing like spending an hour trying to ask a yes-or-no question about benefits to make the current unemployment problem seem real.

It's only a month too late ...

2009-02-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

To blog about my experience going to Washington for President Obama's inauguration. It's a very long post, but I'm writing as much for myself as anyone else, so I'd love if people read it. Photos are down below because I couldn't figure out how to make the formatting look decent any other way.

My wonderful friend Rachel and her boyfriend drove all the way from Virginia to come pick me up in Baltimore at 11:30 Saturday night. I spent the night with them and then got on a Metro to meet my friends Anna, Lila and Andrea for the inauguration concert.

The concert began at 2:30 and we made it to the National Mall around 1:30. We stood by the Washington Monument, quite far away from any of the jumbotrons and a mile away from the Lincoln Memorial, where the concert was. Most people were friendly and everyone was happy to be there. At one point, someone in front of us got on her boyfriend's shoulders, blocking everyone's view of the jumobtron. The guy behind us earned the quote of the day when he yelled, "No you CAN'T" in response to the rude shoulder-rider. She got down immediately.

We spent Monday roaming around DC, taking pictures and being generally touristy. I was amazed at how many vendors were around. Anything it is possible to print on had Obama's face on it. The crowds were getting heavier and it was wonderful to see so many different people. Washington is always diverse, but during inauguration week you saw people representing every race, religion, orientation, nationality, etc. and everyone was smiling. There's nothing to compare to the energy and positivity in the city that day. It was a mixture of anticipation and pure elation that you could see in the faces of everyone there.

On Monday, I broke off from my friends for an hour or so and went to visit the newsroom where I worked in the summer of 2007. It was great to see my old boss and coworker again and I remembered how much I loved working there.

Monday night, Anna and I, who were both staying at Andrea's house, put all of our clothes together -- about six layers -- and got ready for bed. In the morning, we bundled up, picked up Lila at her house, and headed off on foot. Arlington is about three miles from the National Mall, but we'd seen on CNN that morning that the Metro was already completely packed.

It was cold, but the walk warmed us up. Soon, we were watching the sun come up over the frozen Potomac as the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument came into view. When we got to the first row of port-a-potties, we decided it would be a god time to take a bathroom break. Only about 8 a.m., and they were already gross. I think every port-a-potty in the nation must have been in Washington. Everywhere you looked, you could spot another group of the big blue boxes.

About half an hour later, we found a spot near the Washington Monument. We could have gotten a little closer to the jumbotron, but were up on a slope, so we thought we'd have a better chance of being able to see. That turned out to be very wishful thinking. I'm just about 4 inches too short to be able to see past anyone in front of me. It was going to be cold. Very cold. All of our layers helped, but it was definitely chilly. We'd brought along some thermalcare wraps, and I slapped one on, which seemed to help things a bit. Anna and Lila headed off to buy some hot chocolate. At the time, we could see the concessions line and were in a spot that was pretty easy to find. Forty minutes later, what had been a sparse crowd was turning into mosh-pit conditions. Anna called me and asked me to describe where our spot was, so I threw a sweater in the air and she saw it and found me. Ten minutes after that, it was too packed for anyone to be able to find the same spot again.

As I spoke to the people around us, I was struck again by the different types of people represented in the crowd. A small group of people behind me had come from Kenya just for the inauguration. There were college kids and grandmothers and kids too young to truly understand the significance of the day. I spoke to an interracial lesbian couple there with their kid (who, about an hour before the ceremony began, was drawing on a notepad a list of "reasons why this is boring") and then an 18-year-old kid and his mother moved next to me. The kid turned 18 in August and voted for the first time in his life in the November election. He told me about his experience in the voting booth and how his mom (who booed every time Bush's name was mentioned) wanted him to take photos of himself in the voting booth. I told him that because I grew up in Oregon, I've never been in a voting booth or even gone to a polling place. His mom asked me if mail elections have more potential for fraud. I was struck that there were people surrounding us who, at his age, could have been beaten up for even attempting to register to vote, but now we were all there together to watch a black man take the oath of office. You don't have to have voted for Obama to appreciate the significance of that image.

As with the concert, it was hard to judge the size of the crowd. Looking over the sea of people was an overwhelming feeling, and while it felt dense and claustrophobic, it didn't feel as big as it was. There were people as far as you could see, but the human eye can only pick out details for a short distance and I don't think the mind can comprehend that many people in time to translate the information to the optic nerve. What really shocked me was that it did not SOUND like that many people I've left Autzen stadium, which holds close to 60,000 on it's best days, with my ears ringing, but the crowd at the Mall didn't seem loud. Obviously that has to do with the way sound travels on a flat outdoor space, but it was odd.

What I'll remember more than the sound of 2 million people talking, singing, cheering, is the sound of 2 million people being quiet. The moment that Obama raised his hand, you heard a collective "SHHHHHHH" and the crowd held its breath. The closest thing I've felt to the emotion from the crowd in the moment he raised his hand was the feeling of watching a basketball fly through the air in the split second before it swishes through the net for a championship-winning shot, or the time it takes to watch a home run leave the ballpark to win a World Series. The second that Justice Roberts said, "Congratulations Mr. President," the crowd exploded. Everyone hugged and cried. For many in the crowd, the moment was a catharsis and a release of a lifetime of hoping for the moment.

At the time, I didn't think the speech was particularly amazing -- I thought the one he gave at the concert was better -- but the more I think about it, the better I think it was. He said what he needed to say and the tone was right for what is going on in the country.

While we didn't feel like the crowd was that big during the ceremony, that changed when all 2 million people tried to leave at once. While we tried to get off the mall, some people even walked across the tops of the port-a-potties. As we waited, I snapped a picture of the White House. It wasn't until I uploaded it days later that I noticed I'd captured moving trucks in front of the building.

Google Maps says that from the corner of 18th and Constitution, where we exited the Mall after a long shuffle, to the restaurant in Georgetown where we ate is 2.5 miles. It took us nearly 3 hours to get there. For about a mile of that walk, we were shoulder to shoulder with people in every direction. Several times, ambulances moved through the crowd on the street, and a few people chased the ambulance through the break in the crowd. Lila said, "Hey, it's all the lawyers!" I replied that it was probably the journalists, too. Everyone in our part of the crowd was very nice. People in crowds that dense sometimes get irritable and stressed out, but everyone was understanding and relaxed. I heard from people I spoke to later in the week that the crowds were not so positive in other parts of the city, but I felt nothing but positivity from the people around me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at a delicious Mexican restaurant, watching the parade on television with some of Lila's friends, both of whom were awesome (and who'd been smart enough to make reservations before the inauguration day). It was one of the longest days of my life, but I know that when I'm 90, I'll be telling my great-grandkids about what I think will go down as one of the most significant days of my life. They'll bring their history books (or pocket-sized electronic hologram readers, whatever) to me, and I'll tell them about the time I went to watch President Obama's inauguration and shared the moment not only with my friends, but with 2 million of the happiest people you've ever seen.

At least I'll have more time to read ...

2009-02-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

Cross posted from my other blog, which is now public again and will hopefully be updated frequently, so please read if you want. Tomorrow I'm finally going to get around to posting about the inauguration, but today's been bad.

Thanks to the economic crisis and the state of the newspaper industry, I am no longer employed. I was laid off today. We actually were informed of the impending layoffs about three weeks ago and I knew that because I'm the newest person in my position, I had a big target on my back. Through a rather long process, the union members agreed to some concessions involving the 401K and holiday pay and that cut the number of layoffs, as did the generosity of the people in the newsroom, many of whom volunteered to reduce hours and/or take unpaid time off to try to save jobs. It worked -- I lost my job, but I'm the only one in the newsroom to go. It's depressing and I'm freaked out, but I'm happy that all the reporters get to stay. We have some great people who do excellent work and frankly, the paper needs them.

Truthfully, the three weeks of not knowing whether I was going to be able to stay was way worse than getting the news. I didn't tell many people about the layoffs when we first found out because I didn't want to jinx it. But honestly, I'm relieved that I finally just know.

So tomorrow I will go to an unemployment office for the first time in my life and hope that the check will be enough to live on until I find a new job and move out of this town. I was given a severance that's more generous than what the union contract required, so there will be enough money in my savings account to pay for the move. I won't be staying here -- there aren't any other media jobs (at least not the type I want to do) and I didn't want to be here forever anyway -- but it will do until I find a new job.

The thing that makes me sad is that while I have gone through phases of questioning what to do with my life, nothing feels as right as being a working journalist. It's an industry I am passionate about and one that I believe is essential to the maintenance of the entire democratic system. It's hard to even consider leaving that behind. People will say "You have to be flexible and look in other industries," but this is something that I love and something that I want to do. I may have to be flexible about what type of journalism to do, but leaving media behind in general is not an option. If nothing else, I went very far in debt for a master's degree and dammit, I'm going to stay in the field that degree is in.

On to update my resume and think about possible freelance opportunities.

Quick update and a fun meme

2009-02-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, first: I know, I know. I need to write about the inauguration. Too much to say, too many concerns about being objective. But I will write something. Or just ask me about it.

In the meantime, I found this fun survey at a great book blog called "Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin?" You make a list of 10 things you love that all start with the same letter and if people want to be tagged, they comment and the original poster assigns them a letter. So Trish, who runs that blog, assigned me the letter m. In no particular order:

1. Michelle Obama -- I've always liked Michelle. She's so smart and independent and it's obvious Barack thinks the world of her. So many political wives come across in public as though their entire identity is being Mrs. So-and-So, but Michelle really seems to be her own person. Politics aside, I think she's fabulous.
2. Magazines -- I subscribe to three and have to restrain from buying news magazines every week. As it is, I'm always at least two issues behind on the New Yorker.
3. Motown -- When I was a kid and didn't want to clean, my mom would put on old Motown music (The Temptations, Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, etc) and we'd play it really loud while we did housework. That's my favorite music to this day.
4. Maya Angelou
5. Moonlight walks
6. Museums -- Specifically, the Smithsonian
7. "Macbeth" -- My absolute favorite play of all time. I read it in 8th grade and saw a fantastic production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and have been obsessed ever since. Love it.
8. Mentalfloss.com
9. Michael Jordan -- I was a RABID Chicago Bulls fan as a young teen and Michael Jordan was of course my favorite player.
10. Music

OK, so anyone who wants to be tagged, leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter. Then you post on your blog.

Don't question the editor

2009-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

2008

2009-01-07T18:18:00.001-08:00

Because I haven't posted in weeks, I thought I'd blatantly steal my friends' idea and recap 2008.

At the beginning of '08, I ditch my plan to finish grad school by the end of Winter term and decide to just finish my courses and stay enrolled for spring term to buy myself more time to finish my terminal project. This is partly due to spending most of my time working at the Emerald, partly due to laziness, and partly due to not wanting to speed up the whole becoming-an-adult-paying-off-loans process.

I start applying for jobs and send applications to every posting I find that will keep me within a day's drive of home. I decide that I need to stay in the Northwest. A few applications fall through or turn out to be offering far less money than I need to live, but I get a call from a paper in Washington state and head up for an interview in early April (I try my best to be cryptic about where I live and work). I decide to make a small vacation of it and head up for a two-day interview, followed by a trip to Seattle. I'm in the Experience Music Project, learning to play the bass line of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," when my cell phone rings. It's the news editor at the paper calling to offer me a position. I happily accept.

On the way home, I stop in Portland to see Margaret Cho perform. She is every bit as fabulous as expected. My friends Matt and Tiffany are there as well and they meet her.

In May, I finish up my terminal project just before leaving Eugene. I'm excited for my new, grown-up job with real benefits and a good salary, but am sad to leave all my friends behind. It is the first time in my life I've moved somewhere where I didn't know anyone. Even when I interned in Washington, D.C., in 2007, I already had three friends there and then had roommates and met another friend at my internship training.

The new job is great, although working the late-night copy editing shift on weekends makes it hard to get out and do stuff or meet anyone. As the summer wears on, I slowly start to make friends with coworkers, but I find that I'm out of my comfort zone a bit in terms of meeting people. I've always considered myself an extrovert and have had an easy time making friends in the context of extra-curricular activities or school, but in a new job and new place, it's hard. I feel like it's high school and I'm the new kid in school. I miss having friends who know me -- know my stories, understand my sense of humor, etc.

In June, I head back to Eugene for graduation weekend. Getting my master's is exciting, but feels strange after having already been working for a month. It's fun to get back and see a few friends, though.

In July, I buy a new car with the help of my grandfather, who loves to research cars and told me what to get and even called a dealership in Seattle to find me a good deal. I expected to buy a used car, but managed to get approved for a loan for a brand-new Chevy Aveo that I LOVE. It's the first time in my life I've had a car of my own that I know will start every time I put the key in and that I don't have to teach people how to use. The loan is a little scary and a very adult thing to deal with, but six months later, I'm still in love with this car.

Two of my friends get married in August. One is my best friend, Kim, who I met in driver's ed class the summer after my freshman year of high school, and I'm the maid of honor. It's a lovely, short ceremony and the reception is a lot of fun. The second wedding is my friend Luci, who I've known since she was a fetus. (Our parents met when her mom and my mom were in childbirth class together and are still good friends.) My dad performed the ceremony, which was held in the yard of her grandmother's house. The Applegate river runs through the backyard and it's a beautiful location. I have great memories of floating down that river on inner tubes in the summer, picking fresh blackberries off the bushes along the bank. The reception is also at the house and they have a zip line that runs across the river. It's fantastic. A lovely outdoor ceremony with a zip line over a river seems like the way to go.

September is fairly uneventful. Some friends from Eugene and their adorable little genius baby, Avery, come to visit. He's 2 and spends the weekend counting the wrenches in my toolbox and telling me how many I had. I wish I were that easily amused. My birthday comes and goes without me really doing anything. A few weeks later, a friend from work buys me a belated birthday dinner, which is nice.

By October, I'm working a new schedule that reflects the paper's move toward a "Web first" philosophy, which requires the Web copy editor (me) to be there early in the day to post updates as they come in. It's hard to adjust to being at work at 8:30 5 days a week, but it's nice to have my evenings free again and I get the weekends off, which I love. I make it down to Eugene for homecoming even though it turns out the Emerald is not having a tailgate party this year. It's fun anyway and I get to see my friends.

In November, the election ends, and suddenly I have nothing to do with my free time because I no longer need to read political blogs or check fivethirtyeight.com every hour. Working election night is really fun. I love being in a newsroom on such busy nights. I thrive on the stress and energy.

Later in the month, I fulfill a childhood dream when I go see the New Kids On The Block in concert with my friend Kat. Amazing concert, awesome friend, hours (and gallons of gas) lost to driving around Seattle looking for parking/freeway on ramps, shitty hotel shuttle driver who leaves us stranded at the Tacoma Dome ... memories will last a lifetime.

December's pretty uneventful, except that the weather starts to go bad. Most of the Northwest is hit by weather that makes traveling out of town by car quite scary. I realize quickly that while it's nice to see the sun most days, I'd take Eugene's six months of grey skies and rain with temperatures above freezing over snow and single-digit temperatures.

January '09: So far, so good. New schedule at work again. But I'm going to Washington, D.C., to go to the inaugural address (and hopefully to see the Newseum), which is very exciting. Having a bit more of a social life but still miss my group of friends in Eugene.

[Cheesy pun based on a song title]

2008-11-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my friend Kat flew out to Seattle to meet me for an event we've been waiting for our entire lives — a New Kids On The Block concert. Kat and I met at summer day camp in 1991 and bonded over our love for the group. She had been to a concert and I hadn't, so I thought she was totally cool. Words can't quite express just how obsessed I was with the New Kids, but the one thing I've ever really felt sad about in my childhood was that I didn't go to concert.

At some point in the very early part of this year, when word spread that the boys from Boston had reunited, Kat called and said "Girl, we HAVE to go to that concert."

So, when we learned the group was coming to the Northwest, I bought tickets to the Portland concert for Kat's birthday. In September or October, when we found out the group canceled the Rose Garden appearance to perform on the American Music Awards, I called in a panic to make sure she could change her travel plans and then I bought tickets to the Tacoma show, conveniently scheduled for the day before the Portland show.

Anyway, I hardly ever see Kat, so hanging out with her was awesome, and it was so great to have a friend to share the concert with who understands why it was so exciting for me. I've been waiting 18 years to see the New Kids in concert. They were my first loves, after all.

We got to the arena and discovered that our seats were phenomenal. Far better than I thought they would be from looking at the seating chart. We were only 14 rows off the floor and maybe about 200 feet from the stage. The opening acts were Lady Ga Ga, who was OK, and Natasha Bedingfield, who was actually fantastic. I wouldn't have known from the one song of hers that ever plays on the radio, but she has a really beautiful voice and seemed like a genuinely sweet person.

At 9:30 (the show started at 8), the New Kids finally came on stage and the place went insane. The stage had a raised platform and the group was raised up so they appeared out of nowhere as columns of smoke shot into the air. The entire floor lit up with the display screens from digital cameras and when Kat laughed about it, I said "Uhm, digital cameras didn't exist at the show you went to. We're old."

They started out with "Single," a song that is performed with Ne-Yo on their new album, "The Block." It was fantastic. The vocals were spot-on and the balance between the vocals and instruments was perfect. I've been to a lot of shows where the music was so loud and the balance so bad that you can't understand the vocals, but it was perfect. Aside from the screaming, we could have been the only people in the room. Big kudos to the sound guys at the show.

The next song was "My Favorite Girl," which was one of my two favorite songs when I was a kid. The audience went nuts. Everyone was singing and dancing along -- I'm guessing a lot of fans don't know the new album as well, so the crowd's energy was best on the old songs that we all remember (and that some of us never saw live before).

Throughout the show, they kept the energy up. You'd never know those guys were pushing 40 (although they make the late 30s look pretty damn hot). Even with all the performances I've seen on TV and all the YouTube videos I've seen from shows on this tour, I had NO idea these guys were such good live performances. Joe McIntyre really does have a way of making you feel like he's singing directly to you, even in a crowd of thousands.

They did a two-hour set with no intermission, although there was time for the guys to take turns resting while Joe, Jordan and Donnie sang solos. Jordan sang "Baby I Believe in You," which, like he did back in the day, he did with a fan blowing his shirt open. Now, at 10, that would have embarrassed me. At 28 ... it got pretty hot in that room during that song. He also performed "Give it to You," from the solo album he did about 8 years ago. Something was a little off about it. It's a fun song, but there was a point where it sounded like he messed up. I'll forgive him for it.

Joe sang the song "Stay the Same" from his own solo album, and while I don't remember ever hearing it before, I loved it. I'll have to get it on iTunes. Again, he's just an incredible performer.

About halfway through the show, the lights went down and when they came back up, the guys were on a small circular stage in the middle of the arena, where they performed "Dirty Dancing" off the new album and "Tonight," which is a song a lot of people dislike, but which really translates well to a live performance. It was harder for me to see during that portion, but it was fun.

I'm not sure I've ever heard screaming so loud. I was in Autzen Stadium when the Ducks beat Oklahoma in 2006, and I was in Mac Court when we beat then Number 1 UCLA the same year, both of which are places that are so loud other teams complain about it, and I've never heard screaming as loud as what I heard in the Tacoma Dome Saturday night. As Kat put it, "You know, it's one thing when the place is full of 10-year-olds. It's another when it's full of grown women." I swear to you, the screaming actually created overtones (ask me sometime about the piece I sang in choir that uses overtones).

They did every single song I wanted to hear, including "Please Don't Go Girl," which is my favorite "old" song. I always loved how sweet and sincere Joe was (they recorded that song when he was about 15), and he still is. He may have a deeper voice, but he still puts everything into it. It was beautiful. And they sang "I'll be Loving You Forever," which I think every fan thinks is just about her.

All the effects were fantastic (Fireworks! Smoke! Confetti streamers exploding out of the ceiling!) and everything was just really well put together. Their roadies and production people and the band really deserve big props for how well-done the entire show is. Never a dull moment. It really was a phenomenal show. The energy of the crowd and the fact that I've been waiting my entire life for the show aside, it really was the best concert I've ever been to. Absolutely incredible.

The set list was (although not in order, because I don't remember the order):

"Twisted" (from "The Block")
"Single" ("The Block")
"Grown Man" ("The Block")
"Summertime"("The Block)
"Click Click Click" ("The Block")
"2 in the Morning" ("The Block")
"Dirty Dancing" ("The Block")
"If You Go Away" (from "Face the Music" -- the last single they did before they broke up)
"The Right Stuff"
"Please Don't Go Girl"
"I'll be Loving You Forever"
"My Favorite Girl"
"Hangin' Tough"
"Cover Girl"
"Didn't I Blow Your Mind" (from their first album)
"Baby I Believe in You"
"Step by Step"
"Tonight"
"Valentine Girl"
"Give it to You" (from Jordan Knight's solo album)
"Stay the Same" (from Joe McIntyre's solo album)

Happy Punctuation Day!

2008-09-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Today is my birthday.

It is also National Punctuation Day. You should celebrate both.

The day should be celebrated by everyone on the Internet. Moderators should insist that everyone on message forums begin using periods and commas correctly. The semi-colon is optional.

Next, we'll work on teaching people the difference between their, there and they're.

Those of us with good grammar will take over the world. ...

No, I didn't get enough sleep last night. Why do you ask?

Shamelessly stealing surveys

2008-08-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Patrick , who got the questions from his friend. I don't know where she got them. I hope she came up with them on her own, because they're pretty great.

1. Your full name:

Jobetta Pauline Hedelman

2. What your Native American name would have been if you were in Dances With Wolves:

Watches TV with Cats

3. Your birthday:

Sept. 24

4. Name of a famous person who shares your birthday:

Jim Henson

5. What is the best thing you can do with your hands?

If I told you that, I'd have to kill you.

6. What is the worst thing you’ve done to someone?

See answer to #5

7. What is an evil thing you’d like to do to someone (enemy, Tom Cruise, Accounting Dept., etc.)?

I'd like to take away all of a certain wealthy president's money, give him three little kids and force him to spend the rest of his life working two minimum-wage jobs only to find out he still can't afford health insurance for the kids and has to choose between buying food and paying the electric bill.

8. What is the stupidest movie you’ve ever seen?

Fantastic Four.

9. Have you ever cheated?

Not on anything important. But I'm sure I copied people's worksheets in middle school. Stupid busy work anyway.

10. Have you ever been cheated on?

Nope. Part of the advantage of never having been in an exclusive relationship is that there's no cheating involved.

11. Have you ever discovered a dead body while hiking?

Dead birds ....

12. If you ever did discover a dead body while hiking, would you take anything off the body (jewelry, loose change, sunglasses, etc)?

That would require touching the dead body. That's gross.

13. Do you ever talk to the TV?

Oh yeah. CNN gets the brunt of my ranting.

14. Does the TV ever reply?

No. The idiots continue being pathetically stupid. Such is my life.

15. What is your marital status?

Unless there's something I don't remember, I'm very much unmarried.

16. Would you recommend that status to a friend?

Sure, I guess. There's nothing inherently wrong with not being married.

17. How about to an enemy?

Definitely. My enemies don't need to procreate. They should be single and abstinent.

18. Have you ever hit a parked car and failed to leave a note?

Not that I remember.

19. Has someone done it to you?

I've had dings in my door but never any real damage.

20. Have you ever consumed an entire pie in one sitting?

Probably.

21. Name a fictional Olympic sport that you would win:

Advanced DVR races. The most shows watched in a single 24-hour period wins. Bonus points for the amount of chocolate consumed.

22. Do you believe in the death sentence?

I believe in the lethal power of the semi-colon, but so far I know of no complete sentence that has killed someone.

23. Do you believe in Santa?

Of course. He went to my church when I was a kid. Nice guy.

24. Do you believe in God?

Yes, but it's complicated.

25. Do you have neighbors you can’t stand?

I don't know my neighbors. The guy across the hall is kinda cute, though.

26. Are you the neighbor people can’t stand?

Probably.

27. In your opinion, what’s the best thing to make out of leather?
A) Furniture, B) pants, C) purses, D) “toys.”

I don't even know what "toys" means, and I try to avoid buying things made from real leather, but I'll say purses. Because I like purses.

28. Have you ever been arrested?

Nope.

29. If yes, did the charges stick?

30. If you are in a public bathroom with five stalls and someone is in stall #1 and someone else is in stall #5, which is the correct stall for you to use?

The one that is not out of toilet paper.

The cutest dog on Earth

2008-08-12T00:18:00.001-07:00

I haven't seem my parents' dog since January (they got him at Christmas). When I visited this weekend for my best friend's wedding (more on that another day), he was thrilled to see me. He spins around in circles and jumps when he's excited, which happened every time I woke up, entered a room after being gone for more than two minutes or called his name. It was quite good for my self-esteem to have someone be that happy just because I was awake. I realize it's somewhat sad that a dog's reaction to me improved my self-worth, but it was fucking adorable.

I mean, look at this face.

Woah. Responsibility.

2008-08-01T00:03:00.001-07:00

As if earning a master's degree and finding a job that puts me in a tax bracket that may require me to understand terms like "itemized deduction," weren't enough, I now have a VERY adult responsibility. An actual new car, with a real loan. With quite a bit of help from my grandfather (who LOVES to help people shop for cars online), who found a dealership and told me what kind of car he thought would work for me, I bought myself a brand-new Chevy Aveo (the hatchback model) And when I say new, I mean new. A comparison: When I parked at the dealership, my old car had 247,006 miles. I left in a new car that had 36 miles. The entire process was interesting, but way too time consuming.

The first car I looked at cost about $3,000 more than I wanted to pay (actually, I test-drove two, but the second one I drove was way more expensive, so I only asked seriously about one) -- in the most cliched move EVER, the salesman made a big show of writing down the price and terms on a piece of paper, then sliding it across the table to me. That's when I said "Well ... I like the look of this model better, but I'd be much happier with the number on the other model. Why don't I test drive that?" He tried to talk me out of it, but I took the other one out anyway. And I'm glad I did, because I loved it. The first car I drove, I could have lived with, but I really loved the second one.

The negotiations were also helped by my grandfather, who called me in the morning before I went to the dealership and told me about some great deal he found down in the Bay Area and he would pay cash for that car and have me pay him back, but it would have to be delivered. This was not a scenario either of us really wanted, but he suggested using it as leverage. So I did. That little game, plus my time on debate team probably helped quite a bit. I was laughing inside at how cliched the entire process was. "Well, I really want your business, and I want to take care of you, so if I can get that number down, can I get you to drive away in this car?"

When I decided on the specific car, again with the total "salesman" move, "You're going to love me," he pushes a piece of paper across the table with the price on it. I agreed to the total price and thus began THREE HOURS of waiting around to talk to the finance guy, then sitting there while he did something that eventually got me a much better APR without me having to ask for it. Quite a bit of the finance guy trying to talk me into these extra deals they have and doing a lot of "let me ask my boss if I can do this for you ..." that just seemed a little too staged in a "I'll pretend that I'm only doing this to be nice to YOU, but really, it's what I do for everyone so they'll think better of the dealership" sort of way. All of the men who helped me were very nice, though, and I would recommend the dealership. Seriously, if I do and you buy a car they'll give me $200. If you live near Seattle, ask me about it.

All things considered, though, I think I handled things very well. It was great to have my grandfather's help because he'd personally talked to the salesman before I came down and told him what I wanted/needed, and he made me promise not to buy anything without asking him if he thought the price was a good deal (he told me I did "very well" when I told him the final terms). It was awesome to have that to throw into the conversation, but I do think that I negotiated better than I thought I would. I'm quite proud of myself.

Anyway, I'm now a very happy owner of a car I like very much. I gave up on a couple of extras (AC and a stereo with an iPod hookup) to get the price I wanted, but I love the car. I must admit, though, that it's kind of sad to part with the old one. They couldn't take it as a trade-in (I didn't expect one) because it's in my parents' name and we lost the title. So they're holding on to it for me until I can find the title and donate it. Yes, it was very old and getting to be rather unreliable and scary to drive through the mountains, but I've been riding in/driving that car forever. It's an '89 that my parents got when it was about two years old. There have been many fun road trips with my dad in that car. I learned to drive in that car. All it's little quirks and the need to explain to all my friends and mechanics how to use the car really gave it some personality. I laughed at it, but really, it was a pretty good car. Driving that car was like having a friend who you disagree with about everything but keep around because fighting is so fun. I felt a little guilty driving away from it, leaving it sitting there looking so sad and alone.

The joys of cat ownership

2008-07-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

I think the guy who does these awesome cat cartoons on YouTube has a surveillance camera inside my apartment. Here's his latest . The difference is, with my cat, it's 7 a.m. and his food dish is entirely full, he just wants to go outside before it gets hot out.

My cat is very sweet in the daytime and I love him when he's not waking me up. But this photo is why I have this cat. About five years ago, I went out into the parking lot of my new apartment building and heard mewing from behind a bush. Upon investigation, this let me pick him up and purred, and I couldn't not take him home. What was I supposed to do?

My childhood dream

2008-07-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

I have a confession.

Most of you know this about me, but if you didn't, here goes:

I love the New Kids On The Block. I loved them when I was a kid (some might use the word "obsession") and then grew out of it and stopped listening to their music for about 10 years until one day, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought their "Greatest Hits" CD. I listened to it only in secret when no one else could hear me, but I enjoyed it. I didn't admit this to many people, and I may or may not have occasionally used Google to see what my childhood crushes were up to.

Fast forward to earlier this year when the news came out that the group is reuniting. At first, I thought "Ok ... interesting" and then I found out they were touring. My friend Katie, (who now goes by Kat, but who was Katie when we met) called and said "Dude, we HAVE to go to a New Kids concert." Katie and I know each other because of this group. In 1991, I went to summer camp and met a very cool girl -- Katie -- who had been to a New Kids concert in Reno. My best friend Sara had actually been to the same show, so I knew some details about it. Katie and I bonded over our love for the group — she wanted to marry Jordan Knight and I was madly in love with his brother, Jonathan -- and 17 years, some high school rebellion coupled with grunge/punk/rap phases and several interesting relationship/career/geographic moves later, we're still very close friends. How could I not take her up on this suggestion?

The truth is that the one thing I was still sad about regarding my childhood is that I never saw a New Kids concert. I loved them so much and expended so much energy professing my love (and a lot of stamps mailing every member letters on his birthday), that it didn't seem right that I never saw a show. So when I found out they were coming to the Northwest, I knew we had to go. It's partly nostalgia, it's partly that it's something my friend and I will always have in common, and it's partly how damn catchy the group's new single is, but I was thrilled. I bought pretty good tickets (I did not know about the possibility of spending hundreds of dollars to sit close to the stage and have backstage passes, which is probably a good thing) and treated Katie to a ticket for her birthday. We're taking her best friend. On November 23, we will be in Portland, cheering on our childhood idols. I got myself a T-shirt on eBay and there are plans to make large, brightly-colored signs. Neon paint and glow sticks may or may not be involved in this plan.

I've been trying to hide it, but I don't care. After buying the show tickets, I managed to acquire the rest of their albums on iTunes and through another friend, and I will be honest -- I'm loving hearing the music again. There are some songs I don't like now, and others that I'd forgotten about that are really quite good. I love all the ballads and the cheesy late '80s/early '90s beats are perfect for the pace of my workouts.

I've been attempting to deny this, or to pretend to be embarrassed about my re-love for this group, but I'm going to be honest. I still love them and I don't care who knows it. I won't be plastering my walls with posters again, and my propensity to argue to the point of being punished with anyone who dares criticize the group is long-gone, but I am still loving the music and am thrilled about this concert. I'm every bit as excited as I would have been at 10 years old, but in a calm, collected, grown-up sort of way.

And because I can't resist, this photo reminds me of why I liked Jonathan Knight so much. What a killer smile ...

I'm a grownup

2008-07-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

A month too late, I figured I should write about graduation. I got a weekend off work to go down to Eugene to pick up my master's degree -- rather, to walk in the ceremony and get my diploma holder -- more than a month later I still don't have the actual diploma. The trip involved a lot of driving (about a third of which was through the beautiful Columbia Gorge) and after I came back I needed a vacation to recover from my "time off," but it was nice to see some of my friends again and it felt great to get to have my "hood" put on in front of the big crowd at Mac Court. The ceremony itself was pretty standard graduation stuff -- it was just the departmental one, so there wasn't really a speaker, but they gave out a few awards (I didn't get any) and then went through the graduate students and then hundreds of undergrads while those of us who had already gone sat there starving (or, while I sat there starving because the bakery I tried to go to for breakfast wasn't open when I got there and I had therefore not eaten anything). Sadly, I didn't get many pictures -- my parents aren't the type to run up in front of everyone and take a picture of their kid -- so all I have is the photo they took of the big screen and the professional one taken by the company the school hired. It's funny. I'm the type to bring my camera to events and take a million pictures of all my friends, but I never make people take pictures of me at my own big events. I don't have nearly enough photos of me after my hood was put on, and I can't pose for any fake ones because the robe was only a rental. My parents had my camera so I didn't get any pictures with my friends except the one Matt took (see below).

My parents and brother came up to Eugene (rather, my parents came up -- my brother lives there) and went to the graduation and then had to get back rather quickly, so I spent the day after the ceremony with my friend Anna, her husband Josh, and their awesome kid, Avery. He's two and is quite the little genius, obsessed with the alphabet. That's a little copy editor in training. I got to read him the book I bought for his birthday, which was the week before. I hadn't seen the book since I bought it online and had it shipped right to him. The book uses the letters of his name and has a little poem about the other words you can make with those letters ("A is for apple, V is for victory," that kind of thing). I miss hanging out with that family. I can't wait for them to find time to come visit me (hint hint).

Stopping to enjoy some music

2008-06-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

When I lived in Washington, D.C., last summer, one of the things I loved was hearing all the street musicians who would perform in or near the Metro stations. I love music and wish I had the nerve or talent to perform in public like that. I have nothing but respect for other musicians and some incredibly talented people played right there on the street. It helps that my favorite musical group, The Coats , got their start singing on the street corner in Seattle.

I didn't always give money to the performers in DC, although I wanted to — I simply don't carry cash and rarely have so much as a quarter on me — but I tried to stop and listen. The first night I was there, while waiting to meet a friend outside the China Town stop, a young man played the saxophone. Another time, just a few blocks away, a man played a brilliant percussion routine on buckets and pots and pans. The effort left him soaked in sweat and drew a large crowd — I was told he played there regularly.

Several times a week until the day the Metro cops chased them away, a group of four men sang old Motown standards A Cappella late at night.

Of course, I was always traveling on the Metro on weekends or at times of the day when people are in less of a rush, but at least a few people stopped for the musicians I saw.

Today, I found a link to a story about what happens when a world-class musician plays in the station during the morning rush hour . The Pulitzer-winning article by Gene Weingarten appeared in the Washington Post Magazine in April 2007. For the article, Weingarten convinced Joshua Bell, a world-class violinist who people pay hundreds of dollars to see, to play inside the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station at rush hour. They discovered that very few people would stop, even for one of the most talented musicians in the world, playing some of the most beautiful music ever written on one of the best instruments ever made (a Stradivarius violin). It's a wonderful article and made me quite sad. Perhaps growing up in the leisurely pace of the Northwest has made me more willing to take time to stop and enjoy the good things in life, or perhaps my own musical training makes me feel compelled to stop and acknowledge when someone is really talented or even when they're not, but are putting themselves out there for the world to judge. Read this article and play the clips — at the end there's one that lets you listen to the entire performance, which you should do. How anyone can hear something that beautiful and not stop, even for a minute, astounds me. I highly recommend taking time out of your day to listen to the clip of Bell playing. The music is just exquisite. Music that beautiful always makes me tear up, and the idea that people could just pass by amazes me. Anything even close to this makes me freeze in my tracks, almost physically unable to keep walking.

It should be said that I found this via a Poynter link to another column in which Weingarten writes that after receiving the Pulitzer for his "original" work, he discovered that a Chicago newspaper had tried the same "stunt" in the '30s, also with a world-class musician. The second Weingarten column is also interesting, but more from a journalistic standpoint.

R.I.P. George Carlin

2008-06-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

Coming soon: An update on how things are going in the new town and a post about graduation. But first, I give you George Carlin. I was going to post the "7 Dirty Words" bit, but I found this via The Oregon Commentator and really enjoyed it. If you are my grandma or any other person who may be offended by words that can't be said on TV, please don't watch this. And grandma, if you are reading this, I will post about graduation soon, I promise.

VOTE TODAY

2008-05-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

Hey all you Oregonians!

Today's primary election is one of the first time in history that Oregon's primary has really been a topic of discussion on the national level or has really made any difference in the outcome (at least, for the Democrats). So if you haven't turned in your ballot yet, get it in! The one Republican I know who might read this should vote too, although I'm sure you will.

Day Two

2008-05-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today was much better than yesterday. Last night, around 2, I finally tried to pump up my air mattress and it worked, so I actually had a bed. I only got a few hours of sleep because the movers were supposed to come at 7:30 -- they got here at 9:30. Something about bad traffic at the truck stop. But all my stuff was here and they were very nice. One of them lives here so he gave me his number in case I need to hire someone to move me to the other apartment in two weeks. I'm thinking of asking the apartment complex to pay for it, rather than their idea of getting the maintenance guys to help. Somehow, I would feel more vindicated that way. Plus, the guy was nice, fast and professional, so it seems like a good option.

After they left, I wanted to go back to sleep, but instead decided to brave the heat (about 95 degrees) and go to the grocery store. I realized pretty quickly that my desire to wait as long as possible to buy a new car may be overshadowed by my desire to drive a car with air conditioning. I forget how much you spend just buying the "basics" on a first grocery run. More than $100 and I didn't even remember to get salt. Must remember to find a cheaper store than Fred Meyer for non-organic stuff.

I spent most of the day buming around the apartment. The huge pile of boxes that can't be unpacked until I move again will irritate me, but at least my kitchen and bathroom are set up now. I cooked dinner (vegan chili) and dessert (vegan chocolate cupcakes with delicious frosting) and used my new Dyson vacuum, which really is awesome. It got all the cat hair off the sofa and a bunch off the floor that I didn't even know was there. It's already worth every penny. I'm so not a person who likes to clean, but I bought this specifically for the cat hair problem, so it's great. I think I may take it to my mattress, too, but I'm not sure I want to know how much dirt is on the mattress.

I'm discovering that this apartment was very clearly built for taller people. I can't reach the air conditioner dial, ceiling fan cord or peephole without a step stool. At this point in life, I am of course used to having issues, but I'd think they'd at least put the air conditioner where short people can use it.

Right now I'm sitting on my balcony listening to someone's wind chimes. Even with the mix-up, I do like the complex -- I think. It seems to be well-taken care of (although there is some graffiti on a tree outside my place that I don't think was there yesterday) and the private balcony is nice. I think the unit they're moving me to is on the ground floor, which is better because I can let the cat out, but not quite as nice. Of course, all the other buildings kind of face mine so people can see me out here, but it's closed in on the sides. It's cooled off very nicely and is quite peaceful. It may even get dark enough to see a lot of stars.

I realize I'm posting quite a bit on mundane things, but this is sort of an adventure for me. Also, until I meet some people, I have nothing to do in the evenings but sit around on the Internet. I'm posting this while watching TV shows online (my cable channels suck). Right now it's "Sex and the City" with subtitles in what appears to be Chinese.

It can only get better ...

2008-05-15T23:44:00.001-07:00

They say a bad dress rehearsal means you'll have a great opening night.

Here's hoping the same holds true for a bad first day in a new town.

I got up early this morning and got on the road on my way to my new life as a real adult with a fabulous job, high salary (and low cost of living) and grown-up apartment.
I gave my cats their pills to sedate them for the ride and took off. Nala cried loudly for the first half hour or so, but Azzurri is a little champ in the car. I'd left an hour ahead of schedule, had some good tunes, and thought "this will be a nice drive."

After about two hours, it started to warm up, so I stopped to buy water for my faithful companions and used road maps to shade their crates. There was still some whining whenever I stopped or slowed down, but hey -- I'd whine too.

With about an hour left in the ride -- the ugly, boring part of the drive when I had to follow directions -- Nala started to pant. If you don't know -- cats should never breathe through their mouths or pant. I realized it was because the car was too hot but worried that the tranquilizer, which was technically not prescribed to her, was making her sick. Then Azzurri, the asthmatic, started to do the same thing.

After at least 30 minutes of driving around lost (less than 5 miles from the place the entire time), I got to the apartment complex and brought the cats into the office so they could be in air conditioning while I did my paperwork.

That's where things went wrong.

First, I noticed that my mailing address was different from what I'd been told it would be, which seemed weird, but I figured I must have misunderstood the first time. (Cue the low bass note starting to play)

The amount listed for my rent was correct, and I didn't read the apartment description because I knew what I was getting. A two-bedroom apartment away from the street (specifically requested/demanded so that my cats will be safe if they get outside). The apartment was supposed to be in a single-floor duplex unit. It was supposed to have walk-in closets (my favorite feature of the place) that were described as being so big it's like a second room.
And cue the cellos.

The woman from the office and I walk over to the new apartment to look at it. The grounds are beautiful and it seems like a very safe part of town. So far, so good.

We get into the apartment and it's 1) on a busy street and 2) on the second floor of a four-unit building. But it's cute. Not as big as I expected, but cute and clean.
The music is faster now

I look around. The bedroom is huge. The "walk-in closet" is bigger than a regular closet, and yes, is large enough for me to walk into, but is not a walk-in, despite the woman's attempts to tell me that they call it one because you can walk into it.
Cue the even faster music, louder, intense bass, a few brass instruments

I start to open the door to the coat closet -- "Is this the other bedroom?" I ask?
Beat

"This is a one-bedroom."

At this point, while trying to explain that I was promised the exact OPPOSITE of everything about this unit, I pretty much lose it. I'm hot, worried about my cats, irritated, sad about leaving my friends (but very excited about the job), and have PMS. I cry. I hate crying in front of people because I think they'll think it's emotionally manipulative, so I cry because I'm mad at myself for crying.

Turns out there are two "sides" to this complex with duplicate apartment numbers. On one side, apartment A6 is the unit I was promised. On the other, it's the one I got. Someone who used to work here placed a different person in MY apartment, sticking me with this one.

They're going to move me to a two-bedroom unit -- as soon as one opens up on JUNE 4. So, I can't decorate or unpack because all my shit, (plus a few hundred worth of new dishes/pots/pans/rugs/lamp, etc. that I bought today) has to be moved in two weeks. The women in the office were genuinely nice and apologetic and worked hard to make sure the transfer will work without me paying additional fees, and they'll credit the extra rent I paid (since this unit is far cheaper). But still. I was promised one thing, and I NEEDED the features of that apartment -- specifically, being far enough away from the road that I won't have an anxiety attack if my cat gets out -- and was very excited about it. Now to add to my stress about moving I have to move again (the office woman said she'll help and that her fiancé and the apartment maintenance guys will help) and it will be weeks before I can feel settled and comfortable.

Other BAD and/or annoying highlights of the day:
1. Had to ask to borrow toilet paper from a neighbor because I hadn't packed any and wasn't going to be leaving again for a few hours.
2. Had to use a pair of pants to dry off after a shower because I hadn't packed towels and again, wasn't leaving for a while.
3. Discovered that the air bed I bought to sleep on tonight (because the movers have my real bed and won't be here until morning) won't work because the pump has to charge for 12 hours and I didn't know this until 4 p.m.
4. Discovered that of the 25 channels I receive with basic cable, only 13 are worth watching (one of those is the weather channel, which I'll look at maybe once a day, and two are versions of C-SPAN, which will be great on election nights but not thrilling late at night).
5. Tried to take photos of the new place and discovered that my camera and/or BRAND NEW memory card is broken and won't save pictures or stay turned on.

GOOD highlights:
1. My cats did not die of heatstroke and appear to be adjusting just fine, although they still want to go out.
2. A neighbor does not password-protect her signal, so I had a very strong wireless signal for hours before the Internet/cable guys got here.
3. The Internet/cable guys showed up on time. They were nice guys who teased me a bit (flirted?) but I wasn't in the mood. But I'll admit it was funny when the guy managed to convince me that it's illegal to download porn in this city. Under other circumstances, I would have gone into a lecture on the Supreme Court's rulings on pornography on the Internet ... but everything else had happened at this time.
4. After my spending orgy at Target, I found out that if you flash an Oregon ID at a store in Washington, they won't make you pay sales tax. I plan to take advantage of this knowledge for as long as possible.
5. The new (too expensive) Dyson animal hair vacuum that I ordered last week is here already, so I can clean the hair off my sofa when it gets here tomorrow.

New Job

2008-04-19T18:01:00.001-07:00

Two years and many thousands of dollars after deciding to return to school, I'm nearing the end. I have no more classes (aside from the online political science course I'm taking this term just for fun) and the first draft of my terminal project has been turned in to my advisers. Last week, I went on the first interview to come out of all the resumes I've sent out -- and got the job!

On May 19, I begin working as a copy editor for a small paper in Washington state (in the interest of being careful about blogging, I won't say on here where it is, but I'd be happy to tell whoever asks). I spent two days interviewing for the job last week and got the job offer the day after I left. I've accepted and am now in the process of trying to figure out the logistics of finding an apartment and moving to a town where I don't know anyone. There is some stress involved in this process, but I'm very excited about the job. It'll be an adventure, but it's nice to finally be done with school and be starting a real career. The job should be a lot of fun. The paper's coverage is very localized and they run some pretty interesting features, so it'll be fun to edit. The job will also have a strong focus on Web material, which will be great experience. It's a bigger paper than I expected to end up at and all I wanted when I began this job search was to be in the northwest and within a day's drive of home, so I'm thrilled.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared to really be going and starting a new career somewhere far away, but this is much closer than I expected to be able to stay and in most ways, I'm relieved that I'll finally have a real adult career (and a real paycheck). I'll miss everyone in Oregon and it'll be scary to have to find an entirely new group of friends, but I can't wait to get started. The stress and anticipation of the next month will be tough, but I'll get over it once I get there and start working.

Obama!!!!

2008-03-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Updated: This link is actually a better video than the one I embedded, and I got sick of the video starting automatically every time I tried to view the blog. So enjoy the link.

Last night, I helped cover the Obama speech in Eugene. Even though I had applied for press credentials, I spent 7 hours waiting in line, because I hadn't received any confirmation that I would have a press pass. It was a fairly nice day, so I grabbed a book and my iPod and headed down around 11 in the morning. I had a great time chatting with the people who were in line with me. There were some interesting characters there.

While I was in line, I did some interviews — the first person there got there at 5 a.m., knowing the doors wouldn't open until 6 or 7 — for my coworker, Allie, to use in a preview story about the speech. Allie also wrote the main story about the speech, and then this morning I interviewed students to get reaction to the speech. So we now have a double byline. Whether I support Obama or not, covering the event was one of the most exciting things I've done as a journalist. I've covered events where I had press passes before, but this was the first time that I've ever had to wear one for the entire time and flash it to use a special entrance. The rush of it all definitely confirmed that this is what I want to do.

The security was really tight. Press didn't have to go through metal detectors like the rest of the audience, but we had to open all our bags and turn on all our electronic devices for the security guards and then be "wanded" every time we went in and out. I got used to going through security when I lived in D.C., but this was intense. While we waited in line, dozens of secret service agents walked up and down the street. At one point, several walked past carrying bags from the Duck Store and I really wondered what they bought.

This is the first time in quite a while that a viable presidential candidate has been to Eugene. John Edwards came when he was running for VP, and John Kerry was in Springfield for a very small, invite-only town-hall style talk, but this rally was one of the most important political events in Eugene in a long time. It's also exciting because for the first time that I can remember, Oregon's Democratic primary will matter.

So, without further ado, here's the Emerald coverage of the speech .

KItty

2008-03-07T18:56:00.001-08:00

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Turkeys

2008-02-20T21:45:00.001-08:00

My bedroom is in the "basement" of a split-level house in the hills of South West Eugene. This morning, I walked out of my room into the main room and staring right at me through the ground-level window was an enormous turkey! I recently heard that Eugene is well-known for its wild turkeys, but I'd never seen one until today. I've known "pet" turkeys and had bad experiences with them, but the wild ones are new to me. As I watched the one outside of my window, five more walked by! Two of the three cats who live in this house were sleeping on the bed and therefore didn't see the turkeys. The other cat was staring intently out the window, trying to figure out what to think about them. She didn't make the "hunting" sound, so I don't think the cat thought she could eat the turkeys, but she was definitely intrigued. One thing I love about this part of town is the frequency with which woodland creatures show up in my yard. I of course had to grab my camera and capture the moment (I couldn't get them all in the same shot).

Spam poems

2008-02-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

This spam e-mail made it through the gmail filter and found its way to my inbox. The subject line was "intercourse." The intentionally misspelled words and poetry always entertain me.

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Won of old, by wallace wight and bruce the bold miss marple
smiled up at cedric. Do you know who itself easily to rhyme
and rhythm, and several the rear, and who bore under the
other arm a packet man, in blue coat and red waistcoat.
he received remains motionless la hire steps back the excitement
said captain donnithorne, when he had sufficiently the inquest
will be purely formal, i yes, sir. While, have seven or
eight yolks of eggs dissolved beasts set off at a trot.
long ferns by the roadside elephants can remember poirot
came forward and of paper which had evidently been slipped
in among mountains somewhat more wild and primitive was
tier of boxes. They were wise enough to attempt times the
quantity could easily be brought down.

New Blog

2008-02-03T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hello readers.

For various reasons, I have moved most of my old posts (at least, the ones that express political opinion) to a new blog. I will keep this one, but will keep it about myself. If you want to read that, keep this link on your own blogs. Please ask me for the new link.

The link to my personal site will still lead to this blog.

More puppy pictures

2008-01-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I shouldn't be posting so many pictures of a dog that's not really mine. But this one's so cute!

Tomorrow, I'll post something on the results of the Iowa caucus.

A new family member

2007-12-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, my parents introduced me to my mom's Christmas present for Dad -- an 8 week old miniature dachshund. If there is anything on earth cuter than this puppy, I don't know what it is. His name is Tofu.

Overheard on the Amtrak

2007-12-23T00:20:00.000-08:00

Girl: "I sleep in a coffin."
Her friend: "With the lid closed?"
Girl: "No. My roommate's cat likes to sleep with me and it scratches at the lid. It's not totally airtight. It was built for a person just my size, so there's not much room.
Friend: "Was it built for you?"
Girl: "No. My roommate's father built it for this other girl, but it freaked her out."

Christmas!

2007-11-30T16:28:00.001-08:00

I'm back in Klamath Falls for the weekend to attend a Christmas concert by my favorite musical group, The Coats . This afternoon, my mom and I went to get a Christmas tree and I decorated it while she was out picking my dad up from work. It's pretty. I love everything about Christmas (except maybe the bad songs on the radio), and this is the first time in years I've been around to help decorate the tree.

Who do you read?

2007-11-18T02:33:00.001-08:00

Tonight, I went to a bar with some fellow grad students and found myself in the midst of one of the intellectual discussions I love. It got me thinking about what types of authors I tend to read. First, the background:

My male friend and I were talking to two women in the "literary nonfiction" program here at UO and he was discussing a course he's taking in that program. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he doesn't enjoy reading first person narratives written by people he can't relate to -- specifically, single, unmarried women (this discussion seemed to stem from what he's having to read in this one class, and one of the other women we were talking to said that professor is a "nutjob.") He suggested that he thinks men mostly read books by other men and women tend to read books by women. So, the four of us got to talking about who our favorite authors are. Every one of the authors I seek out and read regularly were men. I could name two women authors I would read no matter what.

I told my male friend I am the exception to his rule anyway, because I honestly don't care if I can relate to a person's story, so long as the writing is good. He did admit that I read a very wide variety of subjects and authors. He even said he's jealous that I can do that, which was a nice ego boost.

Anyway, after I thought about it, I came home and looked through my books. Out of about 200 books on the shelf, counting class books (but not reference works), nonfiction and fiction, I counted 20 written by women. Only about five of those authors were repeated (I had multiple books by Molly Ivins, Fannie Flagg, Mary Roach, Maya Angelou and Helen Fielding.) I had several male authors repeat throughout my collection.

So, I pose a question: Who are your favorite authors? If you are a man, do you read more books by men (and does sexual orientation make a difference)? If you are a woman, do you read more books by women? I'm talking about both fiction and nonfiction here, although my friend's argument was mostly pertaining to first-person nonfiction narratives.

Oregon

2007-10-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, as I walked through the U of O campus, I thought to myself "this kind of day is why people live in Oregon." Normally, that thought is reserved for the spring and summer, but a nice sunny fall day is amazing here. I like it when it's cool enough to need a sweater but still sunny. Most of the trees still have their leaves, and around here, the trees turn a variety of colors in the fall. It was a warm day (granted, the only reason it was 72 degrees in October in Oregon is because of global warming) with not a cloud in the sky. Even though last weekend was more the type of weather we experience in the winter (cold and pouring), it was still beautiful. The nice days in the Willamette Valley are beautiful enough to more than make up for the rainy ones.

A few weeks ago, I took Amtrak home to Klamath Falls and really enjoyed taking in the view on the ride back up. The train passes along the rim of Salt Creek Canyon, which is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. I think there are hiking trails, but I'm not sure there is any view quite like the one from the train. The entire trip from Klamath Falls to Eugene is excellent for sight-seeing. You can see several mountains (including Mt. Mazama), lakes and rivers before you even get to the canyon. The conductor talked about the history of how the canyon became a national park. It's just breathtaking. That place is why I love Oregon. I think I have to live somewhere where I can take a short drive (or train trip) and see a place like that. While the state's certainly not perfect (the government doesn't seem to be able to manage money, taxpayers are unwilling to cough up the dough to help give schools and social services adequate funding, and it's lacking in diversity), I can't imagine finding a place more beautiful than this part of the Northwest. I know that soon, I may have to move away from the Northwest (I'm hoping to find a job in Washington state), so for now, I'm just really enjoying how lucky I am to be here.

I tried to find a photo of Salt Creek Canyon as it looks from the train, but there aren't any on Google and mine always glare off the train window. So, the ones above are of the waterfall of the name. Whenever I drive down Highway 58, I stop to see the waterfall. I love it. One of these days I'll have the energy to hike down to the bottom.

Boredom

2007-10-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I had anything to say, hasn't it? I've been somewhat busy, although not as busy as I should be given everything that I should be doing and am avoiding.

While there are plenty of stories in the news I'd normally attack, I haven't had the time or energy to do a lot of research. I'm in the process of starting to work on my terminal project for grad school. It's a series of articles about No Child Left Behind and the different "subgroups" of kids who are affected by it. I'm very interested in the affect of standardized testing (in English) of kids who are learning English as their second language. I also want to look at the logic behind forcing kids who are in special ed for math and reading to take the grade-level test. It's just ludicrous. They say that by 2014 all kids will be at grade level in those subjects, but it's completely unrealistic. There will always be kids who for whatever reason are able to remain in a regular classroom but are behind in math and reading. Not every brain works the same. Anyway, that'll be my life for the next few months, once I get started.

For now, I'm doing my best to enjoy every last minute of being a student because once I get this degree, that's it. I have to be an adult and work a real job with a real salary. I may even have health insurance and be able to buy a new car. It's exciting and scary. I feel like I'm ready for that now, though, and I certainly wasn't at age 23 when I got my BA. Even if I had finished my undergraduate work with enough experience to get hired in the field, I wouldn't have been ready to be a real grownup. And I'm OK with that. I mean, I never would have gotten that internship in Washington, D.C. if I'd been off working right away instead of coming back to school.

"What's he selling?"

2007-09-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

The Magna Carta, a document that King George III was accused of violating and that was an inspiration for America's founding documents, is being sold . Apparently, America's only copy of the document, which dates to 1215, belongs to the Ross Perot foundation. It has been on loan to the National Archive, but the foundation has decided to take back the loan.

I saw the Magna Carta this summer while in Washington, D.C. It's faded and written in Latin (and in the type of handwriting I wouldn't be able to read even if I understood Latin), but I'm enough of a history nerd that I loved seeing a document with such significance, especially one that is nearly 800 years old.

My favorite part of the NY Times article is the last two paragraphs:

Mr. Redden arranged the Magna Carta auction quietly, so quietly that Sotheby’s did not tell its own employees why it was changing arrangements for other auctions. James Zemaitis, the director of Sotheby’s 20th-century design department, said he was asked to give up a room at Sotheby’s headquarters on York Avenue at East 72nd Street that he had reserved for a pre-auction exhibition of his own.

'All they told me was: ‘David Redden is selling this really important document, the most important document of all. Can you give up this room for us?’ ” he recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Sure, but what is he selling, the Magna Carta?''

Back in Oregon

2007-09-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've been back in Oregon for three entire days now (actually landed in Portland about 72 hours ago exactly) and am over the jet-lag and back at work at my paper. It's wonderful to be back. As much as I enjoyed Washington, D.C., I missed Oregon a lot and everything I missed about it is now what I enjoy. The weather is beautiful and I love all the trees, green grass and mountains. I'm even happy to be back in my own newsroom. It was a lot of fun to get back to work today and I enjoyed meeting the reporer who will take over my old beat.

In a way, I wish my trip home had been more difficult because it would give me a nice story, but really, it was so uneventful that it was boring. The flights arrived early (my flight into Chicago arrived so early that we had to sit on the runway for quite a long time waiting for another plane to get away from our gate). The people I sat next to on the second flight (I had the aisle) were a family, so no one talked to me. I just read and listened to music. Boring, but pleasant. There was no turbulence or anything.

Now that I'm back, I'm starting to think about the year ahead and all the work I have. It's going to be stressful, especially preparing for the idea of finding a real grownup-person job, but I'm ready. Leaving Eugene is almost inevitable, and it makes me sad, but I'm ready for it. It's going to be an exciting few months.

Goodbye, Washington!

2007-08-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

In less than 24 hours, I will be on an airplane on my way back to Oregon. It's been an amazing summer and I loved my internship, but I can't wait to get back. I miss the Northwest, as I've said many times. I have three hours left of work and my boss has yet to go over my evaluation with me, so I don't quite know if they liked me as much as I liked working here, but here's hoping it'll be good news ...

Two More Days

2007-08-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have just two days left of my internship. I'm thrilled to go back to Oregon, but sad to leave this specific job. It's too bad I can't just teleport back and forth each day.
The process of leaving means cleaning what appears to be a very messy desk, but is really quite clean compared to the desks of those who have been here a while and aren't leaving anytime soon. Note in the photos: the Styrofoam cup (holding disgusting "k-cup" coffee). I hate the use of Styrofoam. It's so bad for the environment, as are all the plastic thingies the coffee is brewed in. Also note: the piles of soda cans and bottles, left on my desk because as I've mentioned, there is no readily-available recycling facility anywhere that I go in DC. The friends in the outskirts seem to have access, but there's nowhere to take these from work. No recycle bin in the building, nothing. It's driving me nuts.

Goodbye, apartment!

2007-08-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, I moved out of my apartment in D.C., to spend my last week sleeping at friends' places. Crowded and expensive as it was, a part of me will miss my little basement apartment. In this photo, the windows on the bottom left of the picture, touching the ground, belong to my apartment.

What I won't miss about my DC apartment . . .

2007-08-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

The one thing that I will not miss about my apartment here in DC? (Ok, there are lots of reasons I'm glad to leave, but really, this is THE reason, aside from the astronomical rent):

These things live there too .

Wikipedia tells me they eat cockroaches, which freak me out almost as much, if not more. But seriously, just looking at this picture makes every hair on my body stand on end and I can't stop twitching.

One more week!

2007-08-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day in my apartment on Capitol Hill. I actually move out tomorrow morning to spend my last week here sleeping on friends' couches, but this was the last full day. This morning, I realized I hadn't been inside the Supreme Court yet (they're not in session now, which is very sad for me). So, I stopped by on the way to the subway station. I must say, as happy as I am to go back to Oregon, I'm going to miss saying, "I stopped by the Supreme Court this morning." Anyway, I didn't have a lot of time to look around or take a tour or anything, but I had my happy nerdy moment and will have to prioritize hanging out there (and going to hear oral arguments) the next time I come here. Here are some pictures from my crappy cell phone camera (two things to note here: 1) I really need a new digital camera and 2) my birthday is Sept. 24.):

The actual courtroom.

A statue of Chief Justice John Marshall

One of two spiral staircases. As I didn't have time to figure out what everything is, I'm not sure what the big deal here is, but there were signs pointing to them so I took a picture (you couldn't go up the stairs or get any closer than where I stood to take this photo, hence you can't really see the stairs.

The end is coming

2007-08-21T16:01:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was one of my last to spend time exploring Washington. Next weekend, I have to move out of my apartment to sleep on friends' couches for a few days before I head home on Sept. 1.

For once, Saturday was a beautiful day. It was just the perfect temperature with a slight breeze and hardly any humidity. I decided I needed to spend my day outdoors. I got a ticket to the Washington Nationals baseball game against the Mets.(Yes, I realize that they suck -- as the Mets fan sitting next to me pointed out, they were projected to have the worst record in the history of baseball this year.)I've been wanting to go and it seemed like a good day to sit in the ballpark. Because the game wasn't until evening, I spent the day walking around.

First, I went to the FDR memorial, which is awesome. If you saw it and didn't know anything about American history or how the government works, you'd think he had founded the country or that he was a king. Unlike the other memorials (Lincoln, Jefferson, etc.), it's not just one statue of the president inside a pretty building. It's an expansive outdoor memorial with large granite walls engraved with several FDR quotes. There are about six waterfalls, an interesting engraving on the wall that has braille and recessed images of faces and big columns that have images of handprints on them. There are several statues. One is of FDR in his wheelchair, which I guess was pretty controversial when it was built, because he tried to hide his polio while he was president. There's another statue I really like of FDR in a chair with a statue of his dog (a terrier named Fala) sitting at his feet. I thought it was neat that they included the dog because it showed something personal about him. He's not just this mythical figure, he's a guy who loved his dog. There's also a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt and several statues representing people standing in a bread line during the Depression. It's really just a neat place and is rather peaceful. It's right on the Tidal Basin and you can look across the water at the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument reflects in the water. I think if I lived here, I'd hang out there just to sit and read.

Then, while walking back, not wanting to go home because 1) It would cost me more money to go home then go to the baseball game on the subway then to just go to the game from where I was and 2) it was too nice outside to go in, I walked around the garden at the Smithsonian Castle. It was a fairly normal garden, but I found myself walking up to the entrance to the National Museum of African Art. The art museums are the one thing I haven't seen yet (last weekend I went to the American Indian museum. It's very cool but there's a lot more reading to do there than there is at other places). The African art is beautiful. There were a lot of really cool masks and sculptures. They had a really interesting display about language, with all sorts of different displays about how language is represented in art.

Anyway, that night I went to the baseball game and sat out in the bleachers (which is actually not as fun at RFK stadium as it is in other places because the seats aren't right over the wall. They're up high and you can't really see the entire outfield), surrounded by Mets fans. I rooted for the Nationals on principle -- if I go see a game and don't care about either team, I root for the home team, if nothing else to avoid getting my butt kicked -- but man, it's hard. Those guys tried really hard, but they're just not a good team. I was surrounded by Mets fans and had a fun time listening to the guys next to me (brothers from Long Island, they told me), give each other a hard time during the game. Sadly, the Mets fans were way louder than the Nationals fans, who seemed to me to lack a bit of heart. Even if the team is dead last, you've got to be more ... something.

Anyhow, the last two weeks of my internship are underway and the excitement of going home combined with the sadness of leaving are creating an interesting mix of emotions. The stress of having to clean up my apartment and figuring out to do with the things I can't pack isn't helping.

I can't wait to get back and see everyone, though. I'll be back at the school paper right away, which is very exciting. I miss it. School itself, I'm not super excited about right now, but I'll get there.

It's HOT

2007-08-08T17:12:00.001-07:00

Today, the temperature in Washington, D.C. broke a 77-year-old record, according to the Washington Post. At 102 with a heat index of 105, it was so hot that the Metro rail system took precautions and made the trains slow down by about 15 m.p.h. Apparently, when it's this hot, the steel tracks can soften.

That's right. It's so damn hot here that the rail tracks could melt (ok, that's an exaggeration).

I suppose I should be grateful to not be in New York, where rains closed the subway and a tornado hit Brooklyn.

This weather SUCKS.

Meanwhile, I see it's only 79 in Eugene right now.

Bodies

2007-08-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'll be nice and warn you all that you may think this post is gross. Don't read it while eating unless you're a medical student. That is all. You've been warned. If you skip to the bottom, you'll miss the "gross" stuff.

Saturday, in search of something to do that involved air conditioning, I went to see an exhibit called "Bodies," that is one of several such exhibits around the nation. It was expensive, but well worth it. Some of you know that I really like medical stuff and for the majority of my life, before I fell in love with journalism, wanted to be a veterinarian. I briefly considered going to medical school but didn't want to do an internship (I can't function without sleep). So anyway, I heard about this exhibit when it first opened a while back and remember the controversy. I thought it would be fun. As it turns out, it was probably the most interesting thing I've seen since I've been here.

So it's pretty much what it sounds like. A university in China has pioneered this method of preserving human bodies/organs by removing all the liquid and replacing it with this polymer stuff that makes the cadavers/parts hold their shape and color. The exhibit consists of these specimens and has a different area to teach you about each system of the body. The whole bodies are posed in ways that show off whatever system the particular display is of, and the organs are set up to really show how they work (there are of course descriptions of everything on plaques inside the display cases). It's really in-depth and you get to see so much you'd probably only otherwise see if you went to medical school. Even if you took human anatomy, you probably wouldn't see anything this in-depth unless you took several classes and did a lot of work with cadavers.

A lot of the parts have tumors or other diseases, which I thought was really interesting. It puts things in perspective to know what exactly happens to bodies. The grossest thing was an enormous teratoma (tumor) -- about the size of a basketball -- that had teeth, an eyeball and a hair inside. I've heard about those before because I watch a lot of medical shows, but seeing one was so weird. It reminds me of that scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" where the aunt scares the guy's parents by telling them how she had one a teratoma ("Inside the lump was my twin.") Anyway, it definitely got the most responses from the other people there.

My absolute favorite part was the display of the cardiovascular system. They'd done something with the polymer where they filled all the blood vessels and them removed the flesh entirely so that you could see just the blood vessels of the various body parts (organs, an entire leg, an arm, etc) with nothing else to get in the way. It was really neat. They had an entire body that was just the blood vessels. It's amazing. I took anatomy and you can look at pictures of the blood vessels, but to see a real body displayed like that and realize just how complex it really is was amazing.

Near the lung cancer display they had a big clear box and a sign asking people who were disturbed by the blackened lungs to leave their cigarettes there. It wasn't anywhere near full, but there were quite a few packs in there. I wonder how many people see that and decide to quit. If I smoked, I would have quit right then. It's pretty disturbing.

Anyway, that was my day Saturday. After the museum, I trekked out to a mall in Maryland and blew a good portion of my paycheck (mostly on things that I needed. Spent a LOT of time waiting around for the subway that day, but it was actually kind of nice to spend the day doing things that were less touristy. The exhibit seemed to attract more local-types and the mall was certainly not a tourist destination (too far away, nothing special there), so things were less crowded. Sunday was another day of grocery shopping, but this time, given the AWFUL heat, I decided I didn't want to carry heavy bags, so I took my wheeley carry-on suitcase and put my insulated Trader Joe's bag inside. It was a fabulous idea. Those bags get so heavy and walking through the heat to and from the subway (uphill) is usually a nightmare. But the wheel bag helped. I can't wait to get back to a place where I can just drive to the store.

Work is going well. It's not as glamorous as reporting, and every day is kind of the same thing, but I enjoy it. I'm making some good connections and getting fantastic experience. It has definitely been suggested to me that my bosses here know people at other papers the company owns, so I'm starting to feel excellent about my chances of getting a job after graduation. I definitely am getting the best opportunity possible out of my placement here.

I'm considering going up to New York to see "Rent" on broadway in a couple of weeks, but it has not been possible to save any money while I've been here. I mean, I didn't have to spend the money I did in gift shops, but even counting that, I've really only spent about $100 on totally unnecessary things. A lot has gone just to sales taxes. I know I say that Oregon needs a sales tax to help pay for schools/social services, etc. and I stand by that, but man... after not paying them my entire life, having to live somewhere where I do, it really eats up your money.

Between owing on some bills here and back home; the fact that they take out hundreds of dollars a month in taxes and a really dumb mistake involving scanning my debit card (with a very small amount in my account) instead of my EBT card (which did have enough) at the grocery, leading to a panic-inducing amount of overdraft fees, I've made way less than I thought I would. I mean, I'll come back with about half of what I thought I would have. I'm just hoping I get all these DC city taxes back in April, given that I only lived here for three months. My goal was to come back with way more than enough money to last through fall term. I'll have enough to make my major purchase -- a new laptop -- but not much else. It's kind of sad. I could have managed money better, but I really didn't spend much on things I couldn't use. Then again, a lot of people take non-paying internships, so I'm thrilled to have found something that pays.

Anyway, the next paycheck will be the first one that was totally bill-free. I can save every penny. So, if there are still tickets left, I'm going to go see "Rent." I've of course seen several different touring casts, but right now, two of the original cast members (Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal) are back on Broadway and I'd love to see them. I have no idea if my plan for making this work is even feasible, but it would certainly be fun.

I apologize for the lengthy posts. I tend to start writing just to kill time and every thought I have comes out.

Photos

2007-08-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hey all. As the Smithsonian American History museum is closed for the summer, there is a display of "American treasures" at the Air and Space Musuem. They're mostly from pop culture (movies, tv shows, etc), but some are items that belonged to historical figures. They've got the gown Jackie Kennedy wore to the Inaugural Ball, the ruby slippers and Scarecrow outfit from the Wizard of Oz ... all kinds of neat stuff. Here are some photos taken with my dinky cell phone camera.

Kermit! I can't remember how old this Kermit is, but it's one of the first, I think.

This is Abraham Lincoln's hat. At the Library of Congress, they have a display of the things he had with him the night he was shot, but they don't allow pictures. I think the clothing he wore that day is on display at Ford's Theatre. I haven't been there yet.

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The puffy shirt from Seinfeld.

You might be a journalist if you ...

2007-08-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

The first item on this list was added by yours truly prior to posting the list here. I did not submit it to the site where I found the list.
* corrected the grammar on this list before posting it.
* feel stupid when you can't come up with something more creative than your co-workers.
* like to hang out with your right-brained friends because you're the "wild one."
* aren't concerned with losing your job because it's such a piss-poor field you know they would be doing you a favor.
* understand where the term "starving artist" derived.
* talk in "headline speak" for shits and grins.
* correct your church bulletin with a pen during the service or mark up any newsletter that comes in the mail while you're on the phone.
* insist on explaining to everyone where the grammar mistakes are in any publication or sign.
* actually understand the correct use of commas, semicolons and colons.
* hope you don't get an assignment that requires a lot of driving because your car might break down.
* enjoy reading your dictionary and quizzing your co-workers and friends.
* read an e-mail several times before sending it and making at least three editing changes.
* are pressured into making a list because two other journalist-types already have.
* play Scrabble and go for the word that is the most impressive, rather than the highest scoring.
* kept all the books you read in college but haven't touched them since.
* point out that someone made a grammatical error and your friends/significant others just smile and nod.
* silently deride your reporters' stupidity every time you find a mistake.
* hear about a murder on TV and sigh with relief when you realize it's not in your "coverage area."
* are bothered by the fact that you can't come up with anything clever enough for a list about what writers/journalists actually do.
* mock incorrect grammar while allowing yourself any and all "creative" uses. You are, in fact, a professional.
* are able to attribute your misspellings, such as "independance" or "milenium" to your editors' lack of skill. It's the whole point of having editors, right?
* have ever figured out how much more income you could bring in as manager of Taco Bell.
* have been prescribed at least three different anti-depressants.
* have seriously considered joining the peace corps but couldn't for fear of being stationed nowhere near a Gap.
* like to eat out but don't order wine or appetizers because you can't afford it.
* have ever spent more than three hours in a cafe and used your debit card to pay for your $1.69 grande coffee.

Pictures!

2007-07-31T18:31:00.001-07:00

Link of the day

2007-07-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

A recent survey attempted to uncover the reasons people have sex .

Apparently, there are 237 reasons. Who knew?

One month to go!

2007-07-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

One month from tomorrow, I go back to Oregon. I'll have been gone nearly three months. As much as I've loved this internship and enjoyed Washington, I can't wait to go back. I'm getting really psyched.

The thing I miss most? My cats. If I'd actually moved here for good, they'd have come with me. I'll admit that wanting to get back to my pets is driving me to think of other things I miss about home. But mostly, it's the cats. I know that many of you are thinking to yourselves that I'm going to become a crazy cat lady, and you're probably right. But those cats are my buddies. I miss having them around. I miss all of my human friends too, but at least I can talk to you guys on the phone.

I may have mentioned before that I've found that the things that are exciting about visiting a large city (and really, Washington isn't that big. Its population is comparable to Portland's.) are the things that make me miss smaller cities. There are too many buildings and not enough large expanses of grass (my roomie, who's from a small town in Texas and lives in South Carolina now, agrees with me on this point). Maybe in part due to the differences between the East Coast and the Pacific Northwest, there is just too much going on. It's a very chaotic, fast-paced life here and while it's exciting for a while, there are times when I feel a tad suffocated by it. I want to go lie under a tree in a park and read a book and just listen to birds instead of traffic (of course, who would want to spend any more time than necessary outside in this weather?). I enjoy it, but I'm much more laid-back than this town seems to allow.

I miss having a yard. While the stoop outside my house is a good place to people-watch (and occasionally even catch a glimpse of a Congressperson or two), it certainly doesn't offer the privacy of a yard.

I miss privacy in general. As much as I enjoy the public transportation here (and would totally use it for everything but grocery shopping if I lived here permanently), it's just one more time when you're surrounded by people. I love Washington because of its diversity, and I hope to one day live in another place where there are so many different types of people. I just wish I could get the diversity of the population without the sheer number of people. A city the size of Eugene with a population as diverse as Washington's would be perfect for me.

With three roomies in my two-bedroom apartment, huge crowds on the subway at least one way of my daily commute, there's never any privacy. At home, at least I know that I'll have time to myself in the drive to and from school. The cubicle at work is more private than home in many ways. The problem isn't that I don't like being around people. I love being around people and in general, don't spend much time totally alone. I hate living by myself. But I like to have the option. Sometimes I just want to walk around singing really loudly, listen to music that I don't want other people to hear (see one of the embarrassing confessions in my post from a few days ago), eat gross food without other people knowing, etc. I can't wait to get back to my house in Eugene and sit alone in my own bedroom (with the cats, of course) and watch stupid TV by myself without having to talk to anyone about why I like some stupid shows.

Finally, I can't wait to start my new job at the school paper. I'll be the Freelance Desk editor and I have some exciting ideas about how to go about getting the best stories out of my writers. I've also got some ideas about things I'd like to write while I'm there and I can't wait to get back. I've only got a few more months (two terms) at that paper, and I'm going to miss it. I think there are some good things I can do. When the time comes, I'll keep people posted on what those ideas were.

The halfway point

2007-07-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of the fifth week of my ten week internship (Friday will mark the first time I receive a paycheck that I can actually put into savings, even if I spend a little. The initial costs of moving were really more than I'd expected).

It seems like a good halfway point. I'm just now at a point where all the "touristy" things I'd looked forward to doing are out of the way and I can spend my free time relaxing and/or finding quirky things to do. I'm kind of museumed out. I haven't seen the National Museum of Art yet, but that doesn't seem nearly as interesting to me as the other museums. Now it's time to types of things that some of my friends wonder think I'm weird for liking.

his past weekend was kind of a bust. I went to the Folger Shakespeare Library, thinking "Wow, it would be awesome to see the world's largest collection of Shakespeare!" Problem: Unless the person I asked didn't know what she was talking about, the general public can't see the collection. The description of the place in guidebooks and its own Web site makes it sound like you can go in and do research, but I don't think so. I don't know if there's some separate part of the building or what, but all I saw was a theater (kind of modeled after the Globe, but not nearly as cool as the Elizabethan Theatre in Ashland , and a hallway with a display called "Shakespeare in American Life." Admittedly, the theatre stage was under construction so it probably didn't look as good is it normally would, but it wasn't what I'd pictured.

There were lots of posters and scripts of plays and of works derived from Shakespeare, but it wasn't anything special. The only really unique thing I saw there was the copy of the first folio (the first book of his collected works). It was very cool. That was what I really wanted to see. Underneath the glass display, they had a digital version made to look like the pages of the real book and you could touch the screen to "turn" them and look at the text. That was neat.

The excitement of seeing the first folio aside, the rest of it wasn't any more interesting than anything you'd see at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival or any gift shop in Ashland. The highlight was really when I was discussing Hamlet with some people standing near me and an English gentleman came up and quoted the entire "to be or not to be" soliloquy. That was a fun, nerdy moment that I enjoyed.

I also saw the Library of Congress, which has some decent exhibits, including the Guttenberg Bible, and is a breathtaking building (the details of the tiles on the floor and the paintings are just amazingly intricate), but again: I wanted to see a library. Books. I didn't get to see that.

Anyway, time to get going or I'll miss the subway home.

Random links

2007-07-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

So as a copy editor, when there's downtime and I don't have stories to read, I spend a lot of time looking around Google news. I figure that way, I'm sort of still doing my job. Keeping myself informed about the world. Sometimes, I come across some interesting articles. I thought I'd share.

1. A Wall Street Journal blog on what might happen to the person who catches Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run ball.
The question at hand is, if you had to pay taxes on the ball, estimated to fetch a half million dollars, when would you have to pay them?
When I found out that I was coming to the east coast, I checked the schedules of all the baseball teams I might be able to go see this summer (the Orioles, Nationals, Yankees, Mets, etc), hoping I could catch the Giants at a time when the record might be coming. As it turns out, he may break it against the Nationals, but in San Francisco. I hate Barry Bonds, but I've always liked baseball and I'm a sucker for the record-breaking moments. I also confess to having had a fantasy that I could catch the ball and suddenly my student loan problems would be solved.
Anyway, I thought the question posed was interesting.

2. This article on bonobos from the New Yorker is fascinating, but a bit long. If you have been living in a cave for several years and don't know, bonobos are relatives of chimps (and supposedly, our closest relatives). Unlike chimps and humans, bonobos are very peaceful and have no "warfare" amongst themselves. They live in a female-dominated society and solve all problems (or celebrate everything) with sex. They're very happy creatures. The downside is that the bonobos are endangered and difficult to study, in part because they live in the Congo, where civil war has destroyed the country and their habitat. They're also hunted for food.
The sad part aside, a world in which women are in charge, there's no war and all conflicts are solved through sex . . . sounds like a damn good lifestyle to me.

3. But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? UFO's sighted at Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace . My deepest apologies for the lame joke.

On a lighter note ...

2007-07-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ok. Unlike Mr. Burns , who I believe when he says he hates these things, I think they're kind of interesting. I'd like to say that I despise them, but anyone on my friends list over at Myspace knows I like the surveys. Here's one I happen to think is very cool. First, the rules (like Mr. Burns, I'm skipping the last two. Half the people who read this blog already did this):

Rule #1: Don't talk about Fight Club.
Rule #2: We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Rule #3: Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
Rule #4 People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Rule #5 Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. When I was in elementary school, I used to get kicked out of class all the time for being bratty. Mostly my behavior involved talking back to teachers when I thought rules were stupid or because I'd finished my work way ahead of other students and the teachers didn't believe I was done. Most of my teachers wanted to test me for ADD so I could have some ritalin and my parents refused because they didn't believe in drugging their kids. I love them for that.

2. The scars of being made fun of in elementary school and jr. high still cause me self-esteem issues. If I'm in a room with a group of people my age and people lower their voices, I still sometimes think they're whispering mean things about me. At nearly 27, I've never had a boyfriend and can count on one hand the number of dates I've been on, in part because the fear of rejection is too strong to keep me from ever having the nerve to tell guys when I like them. It's very lonely. I worry constantly that I'll never find someone.

3. I was very mean to my brother as a kid. I pushed him around a lot and said mean things. I don't know why I did this, but there was a point at which he became very mean too. I think we're both to blame for how poorly we've gotten along, and he did some pretty crappy things when he was older, but he did not deserve to be treated meanly when he was very small. My only justification for this is that I must have been jealous to no longer be the only child, or that subconsciously I was angry that he wasn't a girl, but I really don't think I had a conscious reason for it.

4. Over the years, I've grown apart or lost contact with many people I at one point considered my best friends. I can explain some of the changes in friendship, but others baffle me. One in particular involves my biggest regret, but I'm not even sure if that event caused the rift because the person in question refuses to tell me why we're no longer friends.

5. As much as I enjoy traveling and talk about wanting to live abroad, this internship has caused me to realize how much I love Oregon. The thought of leaving it, or at least, living more than a day's drive from it, terrifies me. I think this is partly due to the fear of having to move somewhere where I don't know anyone and would have to make an entirely new group of friends.

6. Despite the fact that the previous 5 items make me sound dark and depressed, I'm really quite happy with my life right now. I've recently realized that all the shitty things that happened to me following getting my undergraduate degree (including the fact that I was dumb enough to not work my ass off in journalism as an undergrad), were necessary to lead me to this point in my life, where I'm sitting at my desk at a fabulous internship in Washington, D.C., writing this. Things sucked a lot at the time, but now, I'm working toward the career I'm supposed to have, having a lot of fun and making great friends in my grad program.

7. I'm scared of the dark.

8. On a much lighter note: I'll admit something rather embarrassing. I own, on CD, the New Kids On The Block's Greatest Hits. And I listen to it. And still know the words to all the songs.

Recycling in DC

2007-07-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I complained about not being able to find recycling. Our trash is apparently an issue, as my roomies and I have been putting it in the wrong place this whole time. The things that happen when you share a small apartment with a lot of people after being used to an actual house.

Today, my roommates and I discovered that there is a "recycling" bin behind our building. We knew there was a Dumpster behind the house, but previously thought we had to be able to get into the main house (which we don't have keys to) to access it. So, we'd just been putting bags of trash on the curb and not recycling. The bags always disappeared. After a week-long dispute (and by "dispute" I mean that each of us had the same reason for not doing it, but we didn't really discuss it) over who should take the bags sitting just outside our door to the curb, we learned that we can walk around to get to the cans. We learned this when a rep from the housing office stopped by. As the only person who was home, I suddenly became the one who had to remove the trash. As usual, I took it to the curb. Two of the other three roomies got phone calls later in the day informing them of where we actually take it.

Anyway, we saw what appeared to be a "recycling" bin; however, my boss tells me there's no recycling program in DC and that he's not even confident that newspapers go to the recycling plant. This has me worried that the bin behind the house is for newspapers only. He didn't seem to think that I could put real recycling in it.

This came up because I asked him where I could recycle the stacks of paper (news budgets, print-outs of stories, etc) and empty water/soda bottles that accumulate every day. He said: "You mean real recycling? Nowhere in the District."

It blows my mind that in the nation's capital, a city that is so dedicated to a clean subway station that a 12-year-old was once arrested for eating a French fry (thus violating the strict "no food or drink" law) in the station, can't fucking recycle. Seriously.

With all the fighting over global warming, you'd think somewhere, a Senator would say "Hmm. Maybe the nation's capital should be setting the example of how to have a good recycling program!"

I am complaining about this not just because I'm a tree-hugging Oregonian, but because I'm blown away that there's all this talk about saving the earth, and yet I can't even recycle my paper and soda bottles. With the amount of bottled water my roomies and I drink (I've never been able to deal with tap water that's chlorinated. Makes me feel sick), we're being so wasteful it's disgusting. And all this paper at work. Just horrible.

Some things I dislike about Washington

2007-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

I've been writing a lot about my exploits exploring DC, so I thought I'd post a few things I've come to dislike about this town.

1. As I've said, getting to a grocery store is a pain in the ass, especially for someone used to just being able to run over to a big store at almost any time of day.

2. When I walk home at night, enormous beetles and cockroaches (comparable in size to the ones people eat on Fear Factor) run across the sidewalk and because it's dark, I don't see them until they're almost on me. This is especially disconcerting when I'm wearing sandals. There are also large, millipede-like things in my apartment.

3. Drivers couldn't care less about pedestrians. It's dangerous to enter an intersection, even if there's a crosswalk and you have the signal.

4. Ten percent sales tax. One good thing: the museum and monument gift shops don't charge tax because taxes pay for the buildings.

5. There does not appear to be recycling available. Supposedly there are recycle bins inside the house I live in, but I live in the basement and do not have a key to the part where the recycle bins are. It disgusts me to see plastic bottles and papers thrown in the trash.

DC Update

2007-07-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, going into my fourth week in Washington, I've finally done all the really "touristy" things, with the exception of the Jefferson Memorial. I may go see that in a few weeks, but it's further away from the subway stops than other attractions and as hot as the weather has been, I'm not in the mood to walk. This Friday, I'll get to tour Congress and will have the opportunity to stay and watch the action. I'm not sure if they'll have anything interesting to debate, as the war debate is really going to get heated tonight, but here's hoping. I did the White House tour last week, but it was a slight letdown. They only let you go into four rooms (the ones named after colors), and you don't get to see the Oval Office or the West Wing or anything like that. I would have liked to see the press room, which was just renovated and re-opened a week or so ago. We did get to see the "East Room," which is a ballroom (smaller than I'd have expected) with amazing crystal chandeliers. It's very unfortunate that you're not allowed to take photos, because the only way to get close enough to the house to take a decent photo is to go on the tour. Otherwise, you're just shooting through a fence and it's hard to get a good close-up. My digital camera broke, so until I get a paycheck that I feel is big enough to warrant spending money on a new camera (a few weeks from now), it's an old-fashioned disposable for me. It's funny. I remember being a kid when those things came out, thinking they were so cool, and now they seem so out-dated.

On the White House tour, you get to see portraits of many (but not nearly all) of the presidents, as well as some photos taken at various points in history. My favorites were a photo of LBJ with his dog on his lap and they're both howling at the ceiling (weird, but I liked to see a light-hearted photo), and the portrait of Millard Fillmore.

This past weekend, I went to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. It wasn't exactly a "fun" experience, but it's absolutely fascinating. Everyone on earth should see it. When you go in, they give you an "identification card" (based on your gender) that is a little booklet about the size of a passport. It tells you the story of one person who lived during the Holocaust. Both my roommate, who went with me, and I got women who had survived the camps and survived. I'm not sure if the rest contained only names of survivors or of people who were killed. Anyway, it gave the person's name, age and story about what happened to them.

The design of the building is really interesting. You start out on an elevator, which like the rest of the building is concrete with wire mesh over the walls and watch a short video of an American talking about what it was like to find the camps. Then you come out to photos that were taken by the first troops to liberate the camps. The rest of the floor deals with the rise of Nazism and Hitler's rise to power.

The next floor down discusses anti-semitism and the events leading up to the Holocaust. Then you go down one more floor to find artifacts, videos and photos of the camps themselves. I thought the most moving part was the piles and piles of shoes and other belongings taken from the prisoners. Those things really remind you that you're talking about real people. I went expecting to see grotesque photos everywhere, but it's pretty tasteful. There are videos of the really disturbing visual images of the camps, but they're enclosed behind cement barriers so you have to make the choice to see them. At one point, you walk through one of the train cars used to transport people (they also have actual doors from gas chambers and from buildings in ghettos) and go listen to recordings of survivors talking about the campus.

The last part of the exhibit deals with the liberation of the camps and the aftermath. There are videos of survivors talking about their experiences and what happened after they left the camps (including those who were taken on "death marches." It's really interesting.

The entire thing was of course very sad, but incredibly fascinating. I really do think everyone should see it.

Sunday, I made a trek to the Whole Foods in a desperate search for fresh produce. One of the things I really dislike about where I live is the lack of a grocery store anywhere nearby. The small, 7-11 sized store near my house has virtually no produce, and while you can get groceries delivered, the produce sucks. I had food delivered once and things were rotten. I've been to a Trader Joe's once or twice, but they don't have much either. It took me three hours to get to Whole Foods and back on the subway, and the food was VERY expensive, but after I ate the produce, it was worth it. They have some delicious stuff. I've got to figure out a better way to buy groceries. Paying for a taxi is kind of out of the question, but I know there must be something that's close to a subway stop so I don't hurt myself carrying heavy bags to and from the train.

I plan to lock myself in the house this weekend until I've finished the new Harry Potter. It'll be a week off from tourism, but it will be nice to relax.

2007-07-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm using my roomie's computer and can't seem to put a title on this thing or spell-check. So if there are spelling errors, it would be appropriate for you to make fun of me, but you should know that her computer gave me an error when I tried to spell check.

Well, I didn't get to see the fireworks from the National Mall. My roommates and I heard that you have to get there early in the morning and stake out your spot all day to get a decent seat.

Instead, I went to the parade with my friend Lila. It was a lot of fun. It's very long and has balloons and entries from different cultures around the world. For some reason, the very last float in the parade was the Hare Krishnas. I'm not sure why that's funny, but it seemed like an odd way to end such a big event. It didn't feel conclusive, I guess.

After the parade, I went to Lila's house in Arlington for barbecue. It rained, so we used the George Forman grill. Later, we walked to this bridge over the Potomic River and watched the fireworks. They were great. They did a lot of effects I've never seen before. It's quite impressive to see them with the Washington Monument in the background.

Anyway, work is great. I think I'm doing good work. The stories I'm editing are already pretty error-free, but I've caught some misspelled names and incorrect phone numbers. This week, I start working a later schedule, so I have the mornings free. I'm scheduled to go see the White House on Thursday! I'm really excited. They say you only get to go in four or five rooms, but it'll be fun to be able to say I went.

I've done more touristy stuff since last week, but nothing too interesting. I'm walked around in the heat way too much. I did go to the National Archives yesterday and loved it. I spent way too much time in the giftshop and took photos of what looks like a blank piece of paper to commemorate seeing the Constitution. I spent too much money in the giftshop, too. But, it's a really cool museum. I loved it. If I have the time later on, I may go back and use the research facilities to go through old Supreme Court cases or something else that only I would be that interested in!

Today I went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the dinosaurs and the Hope Diamond. It was all very cool.

Next week: the Holocaust Museum. Not exactly "fun," but very important.

I can't wait to start my new work schedule. It'll be so nice to have the mornings to myself to do things or just enjoy having the apartment to myself.

Why I'm sore today

2007-07-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

This morning, I awoke determined to spend the day sight-seeing.

I left my house to discover a beautiful, only slightly too-warm day. For once, it wasn't very humid and there was a lovely breeze. I took off for the subway station near the Capitol and instead decided to walk the mile or so down the National Mall to the Washington Monument. On the way, I walked through this festival going on here. It's called "Folklife" and is put on by the Smithsonian. They pick a state (this year it's Virginia) and a country (Ireland) and showcase them. I didn't really stop at any of the booths, but I'll check it out next week. My roomies and I have plans to camp out all day Wednesday to get a good vantage point for viewing the fireworks, and the festival will be there.

Eventually, I got to the Washington Monument. On the way, I walked through the Smithsonian sculpture garden and contemplated going into the National Archives, but decided to save that for next week.

I coudln't go up into the monument because I didn't have a ticket (they're free, but you have to get there early in the day), so I kept walking and hit the World War II and Vietnam Memorials on the way. At the Vietnam Memorial, I passed a father, surrounded by his young children (one sitting on his knee), explaining the wall to them in Spanish. It was such a cute family scene and it was one of many moments throughout the day that reminded me that the diversity of this nation is one of the things we're supposed to be fighting to protect, but we have all this divisive stuff going on right now.

I was also frustrated to look at that wall and think that in 30 years, someone may be building a memorial to commemorate the lives of everyone in my generation who died in the War on Terror. It's scary to think of it that way, but it's certainly a differnet perspective thinking of those deaths after seeing that.

Next, I stopped by the Lincoln Memorial and listened to the "Ranger Talk," all about Lincoln. The crowd visiting the memorial was one of the most diverse groups I've ever been in. There were Midwestern grandmas, Indian women (in Saris), Sikhs, Muslims, little blonde girls wearing red, white and blue.... and it seemed like everyone I passed was speaking a different language. This nation should be a place where all people feel safe practicing their religion, speaking their language, keeping their cultures alive... but with all the debate over immigration, the War on Terror, etc. there aren't enough people talking about protecting the diversity of the United States. It's what makes this a great nation. I loved being in this building, one of the most recognizeable in the nation and the world, and seeing all those different people standing there staring up at the Gettysburg address and wondering what the words meant to them. I confess to having gotten a little teary. I have never been one to describe myself as "patriotic" (except while watching the Olympics), because of the connotations of the word in recent years, but one thing I do love about America is the diversity and freedom it's supposed to stand for. It makes me so angy to think about what certain foreign policies are doing to the country, what people around the world think of America because of those policies.

Anyway... I headed for the White House next, and of course couldn't get very close, but it really is pretty. I'm still working on getting to go on a tour. Here's hoping that actually happens.

I think next week will be the time for the National Archive and the Natural History museum.

After sightseeing, I took the subway to the Trader Joe's for some good produce and bought way too much. On the way home, I had to carry very heavy bags to and from two subway stations and as a result, my back/shoulders and feet hurt so bad that I'm walking like a little old lady today. It'll be nice to go to work and be forced to sit for 8 hours!

I can't wait for Wednesday. I think I've said before that while I know the crowds on the Fourth of July will be insane, I think it's kind of like Times Square on New Year's. You've gotta do it once.

More updates coming soon

2007-06-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I still don't have regular Internet access here in DC. I have yet to ask what I am allowed to do on the work computers, and while I just discovered the public library, I haven't gone there yet. For now, I rely on the few hours a day my roomies and I are all home and awake and I can use one of their laptops.

Washington is awesome. I haven't really done much sightseeing yet, and haven't been to a museum (one of those two things will happen tomorrow. I'm determined), but I have time. I think.

Last night my friend Steve, who I met at the internship training camp and who is working at the Washington Times this summer, met me for dinner at a great Thai place in Chinatown and we wound up walking all the way back to my house. Google maps says that work (which is about six blocks from Chinatown) is two miles from home, but it didn't seem that far. We were walking around and kind of came across the Capitol and realized that from where we were, home wasn't much farther than the subway station, so we just walked all the way up Capitol Hill to my house. The Capitol is gorgeous at night. It really is a pretty building all the time. I can't wait until I have time to go take the tour.

The roomies, Steve and I wound up going out to find a bar last night in the neighborhood Adams-Morgan, which we'd been told was the place to be on Friday nights. It seemed cool, but I bet it's kind of dirty during the day. There are lots of bars and clubs there, but for various reasons, we didn't go to any. There are also ethnic restaurants of every variety. A lot of the businesses have signs that appear to be in arabic (or related languages). I might go down there one day and try some of the restaurants. I thought it was fun just to see all that stuff, but the crowds were a bit overwhelming, especially given how drunk everyone was.

So in a few minutes, we're going to the zoo. I've already been there, but it's fun and there were a lot of things I didn't see last time. The pandas are awesome, though.

At some point, I will try to post more pictures, but it'll be difficult since my roomies use PCs, meaning that I can't download from my camera without installing the software, which I of course, don't have with me. I think one of the friends who lives here might have a mac, and if so, I may be able to get some of the photos on here. Tomorrow, I'll probably go check out some of the monuments and memorials.

Day One in DC!

2007-06-22T21:27:00.001-07:00

After what seemed like the longest car ride of my life from Chapel Hill to Washington, D.C., I arrived in Washington at 5:15 today. My introduction to my new apartment involved my key not working. The housing office was closed for the weekend by then and I didn't have an emergency number. I let the woman who drove me here leave and called my friend Lila while I waited for my roommates to come home. As I sat outside with my bags, I called the housing office to leave an angry message about being locked out of the apartment.

At that moment, who should walk by? Ron Wyden, the Democratic Senator from Oregon. I've met Ron Wyden many times and he's a great guy. I toured the art museum on the UO campus with him and wrote about it for the paper. I should have said hi, but was too busy trying to leave my message. It's never that unusual to see Wyden in Eugene because he's always visiting, but somehow seeing a real-life Senator walk past my apartment in DC made it all the more real that I'm actually here. Now, if only Obama would walk by so I could introduce myself, I'd be in heaven. I think I mentioned that I've heard he lives nearby. Rumor has it that John Ashcroft also lives near me. Interesting times.

After my roomies got here, I took a trip on the metro (subway) to go buy a blanket and sheets for my bed. It was very easy.

As I walked home from the subway, I realized just how close I am to the Capitol. I knew before I got here that I would only be a few blocks away, but I hadn't seen it yet (it's kind of around a corner and there are trees in the way). I was confronted by a lovely sight that I can't show you because I can't figure out how to copy a photo from my cell phone onto blogger. I'll post photos soon.

I took a short walk and took photos of the Capitol, got a huge geeky smile when I realized that the Shakespeare library is right down the street, and completely freaked out when I saw the Supreme Court. I'm just unbelievably excited about this.

After my walk, I took the metro back to Chinatown, where I'd purchased my bedding, to meet my friend Lila for dinner. She'd already eaten but was kind enough to come sit with me while I ate delicious Thai food at a little place around the corner from the metro station.

Tomorrow, I visit the zoo. I need to do something relaxing that doesn't require brain power. Looking at pandas seems like just the thing.

I start work Monday! I'm in love with this town already, awful traffic and all.

The Final Countdown

2007-06-21T18:38:00.001-07:00

I leave for DC in twelve hours. Originally, the plan was for me to fly from North Carolina to DC and arrive around 2 p.m., but one of the professors of the copy editing camp has to drive there anyway and she offered me a ride. I'm always up for a road trip, and I had NO idea how I was going to get from the airport to my apartment anyway, so I agreed. The airline is crediting the cost of the ticket to me, so I won't have to pay for my entire return trip in September.

I can't believe that I'll be there tomorrow. The idea that I will be walking past the Supreme Court tomorrow night blows my mind. I'm just thrilled. I have to say, I think I got the most exciting location of all the Dow Jones interns. Other people may be going to cities they really like, and I'm jealous of my camp roommate, who's going back to her own home and her own bed, but I can't imagine anyone being more excited than I am about DC.

I'm a tad homesick and I miss my cats, but once I get there, I'll be ok. The whole camp thing, sleeping in dorms, going out to eat for every meal, not sleeping enough, is really messing with my system. Once I settle in somewhere and cook my own food for a few days I'll be quite happy.

It'll be a couple of weeks before I can really do any of the touristy things, but I'll try to keep people updated. I can't wait to see Congress. I may go to a museum and/or the zoo this weekend. Stay posted for photos of the pandas!

Pictures!

2007-06-19T15:25:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick post to share some photos of the UNC campus. I'm in a hurry and they may be the wrong size, so I will adjust them later if necessary. I've given up trying to explain what they are because the text doesn't show up correctly. Mostly, I just think the architecture is awesome.

Week one down... almost

2007-06-15T15:18:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how fast this training is going.

Six months ago, I couldn't quite believe this internship would ever start. Now I'm at the Friday of a two-week training and will be in DC in one week. At this time next week, I'll probably be having dinner with my friend Lila, who lives in DC. That, or riding the metro trying to find a place to buy a blanket and sheets for my bed.

I said this before, but I love the UNC campus so much. It's just gorgeous. I'd post some pictures, but I left my cell phone at the dorm to charge. I'll try and get some real ones this week on my "good" camera and post them.

Today I took a quick walk before going to dinner and passed the dorm building next to the one I'm staying in. A plaque on the wall said that it is the oldest state university building in the nation. The cornerstone was laid in 1793. It's a historical landmark. Two days ago, we got really bored and the RA in our building let us into this other building to watch TV in its lounge. So I can say that I watched TV in a building that is a historical landmark. Weird.

I was excited today to see another cardinal. They're such pretty little birds.

The highlight of my day was discovering a Jamba Juice inside one of the union buildings.

We work tomorrow and Sunday we go see the Durham Bulls(an AAA baseball team) play. I love minor league baseball. The Eugene Emeralds are only a single-A team and it's a lot of fun to go there. The fans are highly entertaining.

I e-mailed my DC roommates today. The girl I'll be sharing a room with (there are 4 of us in a two-bedroom apartment) is an intern at the DNC in Howard Dean's office. I'm very excited about this for two reasons: 1) If I had to share with a republican intern, it would be tough and 2)I love Howard Dean.

Time to go. Copy editing awaits.

Internship fun

2007-06-13T08:34:00.001-07:00

I wanted to try to write something about my internship experience every day. Right now, I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina training for the internship. We only have a few hours a day (between whenever we wake up and 12 p.m.) to use computer labs and my roommate is not one of the people who brought a laptop.

So... I have yet to have time to sit down and write. Once I get to DC I'll probably have more computer access because I can get to a public library in the mornings.

For now, I'll say that the South is interesting. I've never been this far south or this far east before and I'm getting a nice, mild preview of what weather in DC will be like. I've resigned myself to feeling sticky and gross for three months.

This is a beautiful campus. I love the big old brick buildings, and there are tons of trees everywhere. It's all the things I love about the UO campus, but with different species of plants. There are squirrels everywhere. It's fun to see the animals that we don't have. I haven't found fireflies yet, but I saw a cardinal yesterday.

Time to get back to training.

It's not a choice

2007-06-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

For various reasons that I won't list due to pretending to be "anonymous," I've been thinking a great deal about the issue of gay marriage today. Something occurred to me that's been totally obvious, but for some reason didn't quite click until today.

A lot of people vote for George Bush just on "family values" issues. They were so afraid of gay marriage that they voted for a guy who's doing more damage to foreign relations, the environment and the economy than possibly any president in history.

Here's my "well, no shit" revelation. This entire debate comes down to whether you believe being gay is a choice. If you do not believe it's a choice, you can't believe it's a sin, and therefore would have no problem with gay marriage. It amazes me that this one simple, tiny thing that should be so logical, is causing so much trouble and so much hatred in society.

Obviously other people who read this blog have written about this, from a more personal stance than I can offer, but I'm pissed off and can't say this to the person I want to say it to, so you guys get to read it.

I have never, not once in my life, questioned whether sexual identity is a choice. First of all, I didn't get to choose to be straight, so it never made sense to suggest you could choose to be gay. Clearly, you can't.

Some will say "But I know someone who was gay and he found god and got married to a woman and has 2.3 children and a white picket fence and a dog!" I say, that doesn't mean anything. A person can choose to ignore the fact that (choose the appropriate gender identity pronoun) is gay. A person can live a lie. A person can be confused and realize later that ((choose the appropriate gender identity pronoun) really is straight. But I do not believe a person can choose to be straight or gay. I know more than one gay man who pretended to be straight and a few who are married to women now because they can't be honest about who they are, for whatever reason. This does not mean they ARE straight.

Besides, the world's overpopulated and we're using up all the natural resources, destroying the ice caps and people are dying of famine all over the world. Maybe that's nature's plan for population control. If part of the population avoids heterosexual sex, the amount of pro-creation is somewhat manageable for the poor little planet.

I grew up in a really conservative, redneck town where being gay was dangerous. A man who was out of the closet in my high school was literally risking his life. I can't imagine what the gay men I knew in high school went through (it seemed to be slightly better for gay women, but somehow I doubt it really was). Why on earth would those guys have chosen that life if they had any option? Seriously. They were out of the closet because living a lie was harder than risking the wrath of the assholes we went to school with, but it wasn't pleasant.

It just blows my mind that people are so afraid of something that shouldn't matter. Why would anyone be bothered by who other people love? (If for some reason, you are reading this and you are the type of person who's going to give me the bullshit "what if I wanted to marry my dog/a child/my hummer" argument, we're never going to agree with one another, and you're an idiot.)

As far as I'm concerned, the more love in this world the better. I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with people who love each other enough to commit for their entire lives. It all comes down to this: homosexuality isn't a sin because it's not a choice. I be live in God but refuse to believe he would condemn people for being who they are, for something they do not control. It just isn't a sin. I have never heard a single argument against gay marriage that doesn't surround "The BIBLE SAYS...." I know what the Bible says. But I don't interpret it the same way.

So, to those people I really want to say this to: If you accept that being gay is not a choice, you'll see that it can't be a sin and will have to accept that there's no reason gay people shouldn't be married. Get over it. Who other people love/fuck has nothing to do with you, and allowing totally equality for every human being, including the right to marry, can only make the world a better place.

Get off your high horse, out of people's business and start thinking about other things. Like, how many people died in Darfur today? How are we going to fix the ice caps? How can we ensure our great-grandchildren have enough natural resources to enjoy the earth and not walk around in environment-protection suits and gas masks? How will we end war and feed the hungry and cure AIDS?

Almost there...

2007-06-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I will leave for my internship. I've known about it for so long it's hard to believe it's really happening. First it's two weeks in training at the University of North Carolina (this is a national internship so they train people on a regional basis), and then on June 22 I head off to DC.

I have a place to live in what I'm told is a fabulous neighborhood (I tried to google map it to put a link, but that doesn't seem to work). I'm on the same street as the Capitol and Senate offices(Constitution Ave. What a perfect address for a journalist), across from the Supreme Court, and a few blocks away from the Library of Congress. Work is about two miles away (only three subway stops, I'm told), just a few blocks from the White House and the Washington Post buildig.

As much as I'm panicking in a "I only know two people there! I have to leave my cats for three months!" sort of way, I'm getting really excited. This is going to be an amazing opportunity. As much as I love History, it's going to be amazing to be in a place where I can really be immersed in historical documents and places. I can't wait to tour Congress and hopefully see them in action. I'm sad that I won't get to hear oral arguments at the Supreme Court, but it'll be fun to see the building. I have never described myself as patriotic, although I am really interested in politics and history, so I think this will be a great place to "learn about America."

I have an idealized notion that this trip will give me a deeper understanding of this nation and the government. I certainly won't change my core beliefs, and the things I'm most upset about with this government will still be instilled in me, but I imagine politics are more interesting up close in the city where everything's happening.

Proud of myself

2007-06-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share that today, after several hours of work and just a teeny bit of googling, I achieved what may be the proudest accomplishment of my life — I completed today's Sunday New York Times Crossword.

Thank you, thank you. *Takes a bow*

Adventures in air travel

2007-05-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

I'm nearing the end of day two of a short trip to visit my grandmother in Indiana. After I came out here for my cousin's wedding last year, I volunteered to be bumped to a late flight in exchange for a voucher for $300 off another ticket. I had to use it within a year, so here I am again.

I spent Wednesday night in a hotel in Portland because I had an early morning flight out of PDX. While at the hotel, I watched the season finale of "Lost," and love the show more than ever. More on this later.

After a brief adventure trying to find a way to fit all my toiletries into a bag that met airport security regulations (and after ultimately spending six bucks on a clear makeup bag from an airport gift shop because my stupid zip lock bag tore), I was through security with no problems and on my way to the gate.

I actually have amazing luck with air travel -- I've never had a delayed flight, except when I've volunteered to go late and I've never experienced scary turbulence. I rather enjoy flying.

As I sat in the Portland airport, waiting for a plane to Detroit, I began to look around and flashed back to the past three seasons of "Lost."

Which of these people, I wondered, would be the best to have around if we crashed on a creepy magical island (it would of course be even stranger if a plane flying from Portland to Detroit wound up on a tropical island)? Who would kick the most ass when faced with gun-wielding "others?" Could any of these people kill a wild boar or climb a mango tree to get food?

None of the passengers at the gate looked capable of fighting off the forces of the Lost island. When I got on the plane, I noticed some who looked like fighters, but for the most part, a plane full of white Americans heading to the Midwest didn't seem like the type the others would even bother with.

After I get through security, I love airports. I enjoy the people watching, and I like to see what people bring along to read. Reading material says a lot about a person.

On this flight, a middle-aged gay man (he was with his partner) sitting near me was reading a copy of Christopher Moore's "Lamb," which is one of my favorite books. I happened to have a Moore book with me and I was sure I'd get along with the man reading "Lamb." He'd probably be my best friend on the island. At the very least, he'd have good books in his luggage.

The girl next to me was reading an issue of "Cosmo." She was thin, pretty and looked great for an early morning flight. She looked like she might kick some serious ass if she had to, and I bet she'd have cute clothes she could share after the crash.

The woman next to me on the second leg of my flight was reading a mystery book with a cat on the cover (and a cat listed as the co-author of the book). There's a specific type of woman who reads that book series. I know many of them and they're very nice. However, I doubt the woman who reads the cat mystery books would do well on the island.

Eventually, I snapped out of it and enjoyed the flight, but I couldn't help but wonder if any other passengers, in a post-Lost stupor, were judging each other's island-worthiness.

The best headline ever written

2007-05-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Found headlining a story on a site for a TV news show:

"Man Suspected of Killing Prostitute with Hoe."

More spam poetry!

2007-05-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know what this was an ad for. It had a scary unnamed attachment. The subject line was "Mercedes." I sincerely hope I'm not spreading worms by opening these.

"Columbuses or Gamas, ever pass,
Toward the still dab of white that oscillates
Grateful, I know, for just such compensations,
At the end of the road. Even if they are staring
Billows the fog, cloaks
Dismal, endless plain≈
But what I am looking at is hardened snow,
And he is swathed in ever-petrified dread;
Astonished that you have returned to go
In Florida, it's strawberry season≈
Bronze the sky, with no
Again awaken from your being gone to find
By the design of our own silent eyes
And he is swathed in ever-petrified dread;
Your red cheeks radiant against the wind,
Only a whiter absence to my mind,
and preening, dancing on the basepaths,
Nor, indeed, the bit of paint itself can know of.
"Now it's my turn to sing!"

Ah, Irony

2007-04-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

There is an enormous, creepy mosquito hawk flying around my living room.

The creepy mosquito hawk is there because the windows are open.

The windows are open because we set off a bunch of raid bombs to kill creepy bugs.*

In other news, David Sedaris spoke at UO tonight. He also signed my book and we joked about funny political bumper stickers. The speech was fabulous. I almost peed myself laughing. That man is fucking hilarious. I'm very excited, particularly about his discussion of zombies. As a result of his recommendation, I must go and purchase "The Zombie Survival Guide" immediately.

*Ok, so the bombs were intended to kill fleas, but the point remains that bugs coming in because we opened the windows to get rid of the bug poison is ironic.

Spam poetry

2007-04-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

So I have a love/hate relationship with spam e-mail. I hate that it takes up space in my inbox, but I love when it comes in the form of random poetry. I think this is my favorite, if only for the refernece to "stiffened rabbit carcas."

"XVI. Laying a Ghost: The Jeannette and the Fram
This perfection, this absence.
Would their world not remain comfortably
They move against, or through, or by, or toward.
XII. The Mystery of the Missing Ships: The Franklin Search
To watch me watch drowned snow lift from the lake.
A rabbit carcass in its stiffened fur.
So you can watch me watch uplifted snow
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
A salamander scuttles across the quiet
In the dread circle hemmed by glaciers,
In Florida, it's strawberry season—
Against which we have been projected? What . .
Snaps of ice cracking in the hidden air.
Everywhere, utterly.
Whiteness, those pediments that rise
IX. After the Great Northern Expedition
Life, or only joy, that stands out
Merely a mockery of spring"

Interesting Times in the Senate

2007-04-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm exhausted tonight but wanted to share the events of a Student Senate meeting I covered this week. While the job is much more exciting on nights such as this, it's also 100 times more stressful. My editor shared the reporting duties with me on this one, as the meeting didn't end until after our deadline to submit the paper to the publisher. The news was so important that we pushed the deadline back to accomodate the story.

So tomorrow is the end of the student elections, which I've been working very hard to cover. There's always a lot of breaking news. However, I think everyone was a little shocked to find out that a candidate had been removed from her current position , especially since we got the news just one hour before the meeting.

The meeting was expected to take a while and provide some interesting material, based on the agenda. What happened, however, was rather unexpected , even for someone who's been covering these meetings for a while now and thought she was somewhat in the loop.

The life and times of a Government reporter

2007-04-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, I look back and realize that no matter how much crap I give my friends about not updating their blogs (*coughcoughRobin*), I'm even more of a slacker.

I have an excuse. Since January, I have been the "campus politics" reporter at the paper. This is an interesting job. At this school, the student government is autonomous from the administration and controls nearly $11 million of student fee money. There is a lot of apathy among the students here, but it really is important to know who controls your money. I've learned more about the student government than I ever thought possible. I'm actually quite confident that this is good preparation for covering the daily activities of any other level of government. From what I've seen, the Student Senate meetings here are pretty similar to say, City Council meetings. As much time as I spend sitting through long, tedious meetings, I've come to really enjoy the political reporting. There are certainly drawbacks, as with any beat, but I like understanding how the government works. Even at what seems like such a minor level, being on the inside is fun. I hope that someday I can keep a government beat at whatever paper I work for.

Anyway, the real point is that last term, I spent nearly 20 hours per week sitting through budget meetings, so blogging was not on my list of things to take the time to do. I've been trying to decide what types of things I'd like to write about. Technically, I'm also the federal politics reporter here, although I haven't had much time for federal stories, so I can't really write commentary like I used to. Something about having to appear objective. I'd like to do something more like "Mr. Burns" and write about my experiences as a reporter, or this may become more of a personal blog than it used to be. In any case, I will try to post more often.

For now, I'm off to wait on the primary election results for my beat. There were a lot of candidates this year, and the general election starts Monday. They're really keeping me working.

Eric Nalder

2007-02-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

This week, an investigative reporter named Eric Nalder is visiting the University of Oregon. He has spoken at two of my classes and will be at the Emerald later today. I'm also taking a workshop from him over the weekend.

Nalder is known for being able to get even the most reluctant sources to speak with him on the record. He gets the subjects of his investigations to speak, sometimes about things that could get them thrown in jail.

Anyway, he spoke in my classes and he's just fascinating. I love investigative journalism, although I'm not sure I have the tough personality required to deal with angry sources just yet, and I'm totally amazed by his stories. It's funny that I've always been a tad obsessed with Watergate, but even reading All the President's Men (and watching the movie), it is hard to grasp just how much work those reporters did. Listening to Nalder speak about his own investigations makes the entire concept of an investigative report that much more "real" and exciting. He's here mostly to speak about his tips for interviewing, and I'm just thrilled to learn how to apply those techniques in day-to-day interviews, as I've always thought that was the weak point of my reporting. I just get nervous if I think a source will be upset at all.

I'll write more about this after the weekend's workshop. I can't wait. We already read the investigative report the workshop is about (did I mention Nalder has won two Pulitzers?). It's this amazing story about corruption in the Seattle Police Department. This cop was basically doing no work for years, befriending prostitutes (and tipping off the madames if there was going to be a bust), buying drugs, etc. In the end of this long criminal investigation, all the charges were dropped and he was allowed to retire and still receive a pension. It's really fascinating.

Another article to read

2006-07-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have nothing much to write about this evening -- there are too many good stories in the news this week and I have too little free time -- but I wanted to post the link to my latest story in the Oregon Daily Emerald .

Out of obscurity, craft-brewing finds a niche - News

2006-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today, my very first freelance article appeared in the Oregon Daily Emerald! I didn't write for the paper as an undergrad, but have decided to spend the summer freelancing. I was rather excited to pick up a paper and see my byline on the front page. I must say, few things could be more fun than the research involved in a story about beer. Although the beer sampler I tried (little sample-sized glasses of seven differnet beers) was way more alcohol than I can ever tolerate, it was quite tasty and refreshing. Anyway, please enjoy. It's a break from the political writing and I'm rather proud of it.

Out of obscurity, craft-brewing finds a niche - News