OIP

OIP= Only in Portland

We arrived safe and sound back in Portland Sunday evening, and now we're experiencing culture shock. I'm a Portland native, yet somehow being gone for almost 2 years (minus some time in the middle) was enough to forget how strange Portland is. People drive around here with bumper stickers that say
(as a small aside, in looking for that image I discovered there is an entire website for Keep Portland Weird).

Portland is weird. Yesterday we went to work/study at a local coffeeshop. There is only one table with plug-ins, so I shared it was a woman most likely in her early 50's. She chatted with me, at which point her gold tooth became so distracting I couldn't look at anything else. Her long grey hair was pinned back, and she was drinking some kind of hippy mint tea. She went on and on about how great this tea was, and shared it with me, telling me about her work with a local hippy organic store and the Oregon Country Fair (a hippy weekend long fair in Eugene, the hippy capital of the nation). She was really nice, just so "Portland." This is after being served my coffee by a dreadlocked server, while a big sign proclaimed "We now serve hemp milk." Hemp milk? I've never heard of it! OIP.

Fast forward to the drive to the realtor's office to make an offer on a condo. While waiting to make a left turn at a light, I come into the middle of a battle between a biker and a car. This is not uncommon in Portland, where it is hip to bike, but bikers are aggressive, nasty, hoity-toity people (for the most part). I don't know what had transpired, but they were arguing very loudly with lots of swear words. The driver got out and I thought they would fight, but they just screamed more. He got back in his car, the yelling continued, and the biker reached out and punched the guy's car with all of his might. The pissed off driver squealed his tires and took off. OIP.

We're happy to be back, and looking forward to trying out all of the restaurants that have opened in our absence. We've already got plans for our first "Back in Portland Happy Hour" this Friday. But getting used to this town again is going to take some time for sure!

Made it

We're here, safe and sound at home, but very, very tired. Four LONG days of driving 15 hour days. Can't wait for the weekend already.

Still alive!

Despite the lack of postings recently, I am still alive. Packing and all of the associated moving crap has kept me really busy. I don't see this changing much in the next couple of weeks, since we still have to drive 3,000 miles in 2 days, unpack, go back to work, and find a permanent place to live. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks :)

What's up with customer service?

Yes, I am an 80-year-old woman in a young body. Where has customer service gone?

Exhibit A: Yesterday, I called to see if a local dealership had a Honda Civic Hybrid. She asked for my first name, and I gave it to her. She asked for my last, and I politely said I preferred not to give it. She then told me she couldn't give me any information then, and hung up on me. What?!?

Exhibit B: We went to Scion to test drive the tC. We walked in, the only people there. The receptionist paged a Scion rep twice, and no one came. She proceeded to ignore us, and 5 minutes later we walked out, having never been spoken to again.

Exhibit C: Went to the Nissan dealership to test drive a Nissan Altima Hybrid. 45 minutes before closing, and we're told "the gate is already locked, so you can't drive it today." Closed, 45 minutes, before you close??? At least the saleslady was really nice.

Exhibit D: Drop of my car today at 9am to get a hitch put on. Tell the guy I'll be back at 2pm, and he says that's fine. Come back at 2:20, and it's not done, with 2 cars still to be finished before he gets to mine. They close at 5, so it's unlikely they will even have it done today at all. What?!? Too bad we're screwed, because they are the only place in town with the hitch in stock.

All of these things happened in the last 2 days. What happened to nice people who give decent service to paying customers (or potential customers)?

Brief update

I know you all are dying for wedding updates, but I just haven't had time to get photos from everyone, upload and organize the ones I have already, and write about it. Coming back from your honeymoon with a mean case of vertigo, a work proposal to write, many things to sell on Craigslist, an entire house to pack, a trailer hitch to have installed, friends to see, etc etc etc has keep me very busy. Suffice to say we did get married! For now, you'll have to be satiated with these two scanned formal pictures from our honeymoon cruise. Enjoy them, because they are almost surely better than our wedding pictures anyway (long hair + wind on the beach = just-got-out-of-bed look in every photo).

The end of me, the beginning of we

We're off to do this:
Then to try this:

And this:


On this:
Wish us luck! See you the 18th.

Teeth!

The before pics (left side, obviously) and the after pictures on the right. Excuse the angry red gums....they weren't too happy with having glue scraped off. Not bad in 13 months. Now to get used to this new retainer. Thankfully it's an Essix (the clear plastic kind), but I still talk funny and it is pretty painful. I've started using Crest Whitestrips too, at the recommendation of my ortho. I'll have to post some after shots of that if they work well.

Also, congrats to Bryan for passing his ERI test with flying colors! It was the last hurdle to graduation, and he did really well on it. Now onto studying for the NCLEX.