After work, Chuk picked me up after work and took me to Pittock House.  It is a house owned by the family that started the Oregonian newspaper and started other stuff in Portland, OR.  The reason we went wasn't to look at the house as it closes at 4 pm, but to see the view.  It is situated on the west hills and overlooks downtown Portland.

Sorry, didn't bring a camera so I couldn't take a picture of Mt. Hood, which was just to the west.  We were also able to see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.

After that we drove further west to see where we might end up and went along the skyline boulevard.  More gorgeous views and expensive houses.

Then we went back in the other direction and found ourselves in Northeast Portland.  We ate dinner at a barbecue place called Podnah's Pit.  It was very good.  Chuk had the pulled pork and I had the brisket.  For sides we had pinto beans (cooked with pork), collard greens (also cooked with pork), blackeyed pea salad (cool in a slightly vinegary dressing) and cole slaw.  One of my coworkers and his wife came into the restaurant and we talked a little with them.

It was time to go home, in time to see the Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica.  Oh, we missed the season finale of Torchwood last weekend but it finally became available in the On Demand section of the cable menu this morning.  But I don't think we will get a chance to watch it until this evening.

Today, we go toward the Dalles (rhymes with Al's) and visit the Columbia River Gorge.  If we feel adventurous, we might loop around Mt. Hood. 

I promise to take a couple of pictures.

Chuk is in town for a little over a week.

Yesterday we did some shopping.  I now have a microwave but the cord doesn't reach the outlet, so today we are going to find an extension cord and maybe a splitter or a power cord.

He brought up my TV stand so I don't need to get a new one.  I also have a real night stand with storage drawers.

And a place to store shoes!  There is a small unit with two drawers that sits on top of the shoe caddy that I am less than pleased with but I think I can make it work.

We had lunch at a Red Robin.  It was my first time and it was quite different from what I expected.  I thought it was a malt shop sort of place and instead it felt like TGIFridays but brighter.

From there we went to a Joann's and I bought a huge sack of yarn.  I decided to start my new project, a blanket.

On the way back we went to two Asian grocery stores.  The first was Fubonn, which was in a mini mall, far out in South East. It was very big and had stuff from many different countries, China, Korean, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. 

The second was Anzen, which was a small grocery store / gift shop across the street from the Convention Center.  I think I could get to this one easily via public transportation or even by foot.

We returned to the apartment, unloaded everything and then spent about four hours putting stuff together and rearranging.  For dinner, we went to Alexis, a Greek Restaurant on Burnside.  We took the Max part of the way there since it was cold.  On the way home, we tried to catch a Streetcar (different line) but he had just missed one and didn't want to wait twenty minutes in the even colder night so we hoofed it.

It is cold again today so I don't think we will be doing the grand walking tour of South East neighborhoods.

I finally got the photos I took from my excursions within Portland, OR uploaded into Flickr, so please enjoy this compilation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drj0402/collections/72157604351592579/

Also, I have more tulip pictures and put them all together here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drj0402/collections/72157604346901186/

Link to photos from tulip festival.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drj0402/sets/72157604254853843/

Yesterday, I did laundry after work, but even after drying stuff for an hour, not every thing was completely dry, so I hung almost everything up in the apartment.  Then I listened to music and podcasts for most of the evening since there was nothing good on TV.  Maybe if I had a Tivo or DVR it would have been a different story, but it's probably better to save my money now.

Today, I had my dinner around 6:30 pm and took a walk through the Portland State University campus and then across the highway to a neighborhood built on the side of a hill.  Walking up a bunch of stairs was good exercise, but a little scary since it was not lit at all and there was only a crescent of a moon.  But I still knew I was in the city cause I could see the lights of downtown and hear the highway.

Tomorrow, I am not sure what I will do after work.  Perhaps see a movie.  Any suggestions?

Today feels like the first weekend I was truly free.  No longer on call.  No longer having to wait around to talk to the superintendent.

After breakfast and a shower, I took the Yellow Max line to the North Lombard station where I caught a bus (#75) to the St. Johns neighborhood in the north section of the city.  It's famous landmark is the St. Johns Bridge which has gothic towers and spans the Willamette River from 240 feet above.  Cathedral Park is under the bridge and to the north along the river.  Caution, things sometimes fall from the bridge.  There were lots of cars in the parking lot that had empty boat trailers on them. 

The neighborhood has the basic shops and services and appears to be going through a transition.  I saw trendy cafes on the same block as "panaderias".  There were two Chinese restaurant / lounges with off track betting.  A tattoo parlor.  The oldest bike repair shop in Portland.  A old gas station converted into a cafe.  A domed movie theater converted into a bar & restaurant that still shows movies.  There appeared to be more construction of new homes east of the neighborhood center, closer to the river.  Houses to the west of downtown seemed run of the mill except for a special block of what appeared to be town houses but might have been condos or apartments close to the school.  South of center were the larger houses.

After lunch at the afore mentioned pub and another short walk around the place, I boarded a bus (#75) going the other way, but stayed on it past the Max station until I reached the Hollywood neighborhood.

The Hollywood neighborhood is east of downtown in the north east section of the city.  There are lots and lots of stores and restaurants.  There is a highway exit there as well as another Max station, so draws in people from other neighborhoods.  I looked at houses on both sides of the highway.  All single family, detached, on various amounts of land.  Except for the Bookmark Apartments, perched on top of the library. 

I bought a used mystery novel that was touted as a "needlecraft mystery" at a used book store.  Still have to finish the mystery novel set in a Tokyo department store which I found at Powells last week.

I found two comic book stores.  One was close to the Hollywood area, which was adequate but heavy on the action figures.  Then I walked along Sandy away from the highway, and came upon another one that was larger and had a greater selection of print material.  I think I was in the City of Roses neighborhood at that point even though their web site insists they are in Hollywood.

I had a late afternoon snack at Pal Shanty's. It is another pub that serves food.  They specialized in fish and seafood.  I had calamari steak fingers and a razor sandwich.  What's a razor sandwich, you might ask.  Well, it is a razorback clam that has been flattened into a fillet, deep fried and place on a bun with onion and a single leaf of lettuce.  Tartar sauce served on the side.  Comes with a pickle and potato chips.  It was all very good but I may regret it later tonight.

Just before I left the neighborhood, I bought a few items at Trader Joes. (You don't need a link for them too, do you?)  It's like every Trader Joes I have been to, crowded and with the same products available at any other store.  I was sad to see there were no cheeses from Oregon sold there.  So far the only place I have found Rogue Creamery cheese has been Fred Meyers and Whole Foods.

So then I got home around 6:00 pm and drew a bath because my feet hurt so much from walking everywhere.

Waiting for 9:00 pm to roll around so I can watch the new episode of Torchwood on BBC America.

First week at the new job.  There's so much to learn.  My head is swimming

So far so good, but when I get home, I don't want to look at the laptop much less fire it up and do stuff on the web so I haven't been around.

Last night, I went out for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant near the apartment.  It was very good.  Then I went for a walk all around downtown and walked by the river.  It was dark, but there were lights along the riverfront and on the bridges.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized I had been wearing my lace up dress shoes all evening.  Next time I will remember to wear the sneakers.

I did get home in time to watch Project Runway.  Half surprised that Christian won but very happy for him.  I enjoyed listening to his interview on Feast of Fools and it looks like they reran it recently. 

Tonight, there wasn't anything good on TV so I have been listening to podcasts and music while tidying up the aparement.  For dinner, I boiled some angel hair pasta and asparagus.  I put some pesto on it and mixed it up and then added some chopped up chicken breast. 

I still have another chicken breast left.  That should be enough for a dinner and a lunch, meat-wise. 

If I didn't say before, I used my new dutch oven to cook a 5 lb chicken on Sunday.  I got the recipe from Cook's Illustrated Magazine.  They don't seem to have it on their website.  It involves cooking the bird on the stove in oil for 5-7 minutes on each side along with chopped up celery, onion and garlic, then putting it into the oven at 250 degrees F for about 2 hours.  I was surprised at how much liquid was in the pot when I opened it and it reduced down to very tasty sauce.   The leg and thigh is still my favorite part of the chicken, but the chicken breast wasn't as dried out as when I just bake chicken.  So I might do this again this weekend.

Tomorrow is Friday.  And then the weekend.

For those who haven't been keeping up, I moved from San Francisco, CA to Portland, OR less than a month ago.  For the weeks leading up to it, I made sure to walk during my lunch hour to get some sun rays because I heard that it would be usually overcast in Portland.

Well, that was true for the first couple of weeks.  It rained on and off almost every day.

But so far, the weather has been remarkably dry this week.  On the radio, they called it the "February Fakeout."  Not sure if that is what people really say here.

I talked to people at work about the nice weather and everyone had different story.  One person said it is due to global warming and then went into a history of the different sources for the city's drinking water.  Another said that the rain will start again soon and will continue until May, but even then there will be rainy days during the warm months.  Yet another says the weather pattern is "just like the bay area" but padded with more rainy months. 

All I know is I am glad I don't have wear the parka with the hood to and from work.  So far, just the denim jacket and an optional scarf seems fine.  We will see what we will see.

I guess I don't know movies.  "No Country for Old Men" won Best Picture, but I didn't enjoy it that much when I saw it.  Not sure I want to see the other nominees now.  I did see "Juno" and loved it so much I bought the soundtrack.  But still I am tired of keeping up with the Oscars.

I went out for a couple of walks today.  There is a distinct odor of urine or mold outside the front entrance.  Homeless sleep on the sidewalk next to the buildings.  I went to throw out the trash and found bags and bags of garbage in one of the corridors leading to the trash area.  I can't say I was ever enchanted with this place, but I think I understand now why the rent is so low.

Friday night, I made Japanese curry.  Basically, I cut up a bunch of vegetables including onions, carrots, a rutabaga, a parsnip and a potato. I sauteed them in my "new" dutch oven, then added about a pound of frozen meatballs.  Then I added about 3 cups of water, brought it to a boil and simmered for about 20 minutes.  When the veggies were done, I stirred in (not the kanga but) the roux.  I had that with rice and some cucumber pickles I made ahead of time.

I did laundry while cooking the meal and watched Mr. Mom while having dinner.  One of those movies I didn't get to see when it first came out.  I knew Michael Keaton played the title character but was pleasantly surprised to find Terri Garr and Martin Mull in it.  Christopher Lloyd was also in it, but I didn't recognize him.

Then there were the leftovers...  Thankfully, I was able to fit the dutch oven in the fridge, but only if I flipped the lid upside down.

Today, I slept late.  I puttered around the apartment, stopped by the grocery store, visited a museum, had leftovers for lunch and did some work.

Tomorrow, I will probably stay close to the apartment to do some work.