nosleeptilportland

[nosleeptilportland]

Miscellany

Some oddities and curiosities I've seen over the last few days:

A right hand drive Subaru mini van, possibly a kei?

A Slavic church, I'd presume Eastern Orthodox

The poshest sign ever for a doggie daycare center

Certification for the world's smallest nature preserve

The tragic result of spending more on your forced induction than your brakes and suspension

A good idea cut short

[nosleeptilportland]

the local fare

Several things happened over the last few days, largely positive but who wants to hear about that when we can focus on food?

Sizzle pie: familiar pizza at a reasonable price

Wa Kitchen Kuu: lovely Japanese fusion cuisine with very friendly staff

Sushi Sakura: a sushi train restaurant, but not sketchy or distressingly warm

Laurelhurst Theatre: its a theatre, with a bit of acceptable, better than average movie theatre food. Standout is the “a group of friends bought a theatre, but it didn’t end in tears” vibe to the place

[nosleeptilportland]

working out the Knots

The 18 or so hours of flying from New Zealand to the USA is not without its aches and pains.  My neck, already irritated from some persistent injuries, was in full flare up by the time I landed. By some convenient coincidence our apartment building also houses a spa and massage center, and it seemed fitting to explore it, in the spirit of my own improvement as well as an investigation into how it might be helpful for both Cat and I from a hydrotherapy perspective.

Knot Springs has quite an interesting set of pools, reminiscent of the classic three Roman baths (warm, hot, cold) paired with wet and dry saunas. The link covers the rotation of use and suffice to say it is quite invigorating.  It’s a special experience sitting in a hot bath looking out over the city skyline to the west, a bit indulgent really.

The soak in the baths was followed by an hour of time with a massage therapist, which I found was quite a different experience compared to a basic massage. The techniques were the same but were far better targeted, with a real knowledge of anatomy. I left with much of my pain removed and my range of motion improved, some real quality of life improvement.  Somewhere between a special occasion treat and a quality of life basic.

Backing up a bit, lunch today was at Pear, the in-house vegan Thai restaurant. Pad Kra Praow with brown rice, pleasantly spicy straight from the kitchen.

Dinner was a lovely plate of enchiladas from Bar Dune finished out the evening; a really well balanced mix of flavors, the olives paired incredibly well with the more expected Mexican elements.

[nosleeptilportland]

Ticking boxes

The rest of the day was a handful of planned and unplanned tasks.

Riding the streetcar (more a necessity than a task):

Checking out the wellness center:

The facilities are excellent, but in use, so no pics.  Something we’ll definitely be including in our budget.

Trying new eateries: lunch at Pizzicato:

Tasty, with a light crust.  Lots of healthy options, a good place to go after a bit of exercise at March.

A bit of research into furnishing our (eventual) new home:

Concert venues:

Somewhere I can actually get a pair of combat boots:

And back home.  Nothing momentous but its all a part of acclimating to the new environment.

[nosleeptilportland]

Bits and bob(cut)s

Today was a day for ticking boxes, starting with my head. As far as I can tell there’s no actual requirement for formal training to be a barber in NZ, which means cuts are very hit or miss until you find someone you can trust. I was hoping for more here, and I chose Hammer and Nails based on a few recommendations and the fact it was a block away.

Before:

After:

I’m reasonably happy? Its slightly shorter than I like but every haircut is.  The shape works. We'll see what it looks like after a wash.

[nosleeptilportland]

Meh-sterchef

Given the short term of my stay there is a limit to what foodstuffs I could pick up without a lot of waste but breakfast can be a fairly discreet meal and I’m ok with an omelette every day so that’s the direction I’ve gone. First failure; I forgot to buy an seasonings at all. I can’t recall the last time I’ve been in a kitchen without (at least) salt or pepper. Oh well, the ingredients are good, and we have tools, so off we go.

Well I thought we had tools. Note the lack of a frying pan.  Many pots; a random pie pan; no frying pan. OK... but that large pot has a lot of surface area, we can still do this.  Now to cut up the ingredients...

on the cutting board that doesn’t exist. Eh, they’re not my knives and no one will check the bottom of a plate, will they?

Cooking in progress:

And the final result.  Not too bad overall.

[nosleeptilportland]

SHOP-PING pt.2

So its the end of winter in Portland, and restocks of winter coats were months ago. As I don’t wear an outlier size most of what i’m looking for left months ago.  Still, a solid afternoon of hunting (with a break in the middle for shopping for Cat

yielded a result.

This is me.  Or someone from a british gangster film, I’m not sure.

There was a horrid mall food court meal in the middle but I’m not going to give it the publicity of a mention. I think I’m past being able to eat most mall food, which is sad and also probably for the best.

Success, and the approaching dark, sent me home.  Briefly, because its time I actually cooked something in the new apartment.  That, and washed some of these clothes.

The closest supermarket is Whole Foods.  This is not where I’d normally do my big shop but its a straight shot from the hotel by bus and I was a bit sick of the Lloyd Center area.

Home, wash on, finally time for some decent food.

And decent it was.

This was the best piece of pork I’ve ever had, by a long shot.  So good that I ordered the bread AFTER the meal, just to soak up the sauce.  The bread, btw, was baked to order, and was worth the visit all on its own.  I’ll not leave without another meal here.

Tomorrow is a new look (ish) and more houses.  Speaking of houses, we’ll get back to the 29th when the story of house hunting is complete. Stay tuned.

[nosleeptilportland]

Lets go SHOP-PING

One thing I run perpetually short of is socks. I’m not sure what it is about how I treat socks that seems to separate them from their heels in short order but they are, as is commonly said in automotive circles, a “wearable part” in my wardrobe.  For this trip I had packed every pair of socks I possessed, but this only amounted to four, and four isn’t 12, so a priority for today was a trip to the mall.  Add to that the opening weekend of the Portland Saturday Market (which has outgrown its name, as it trades on both Saturday and Sunday) and the day’s schedule was set.  Shopping it is.

The PSM is just over the bridge from my residence, a pleasant ride and a short walk. 

It’s well established, thought you’d think the signs were a bit misleading at this point.

I’d had no breakfast at this point, shopping being a task for later today, so I took a chance on some market fare.  This is a Tikka Masala, and some samosas:

The whiteness is terrifyingly real. I honestly feel bad for the proprietors; undoubtedly they’ve had to remove all the character to widen their audience. I had a chat with one of the owners and apparently, under the employ of Intel, there is a fair contingent of Indians in Portland; I hope that bodes well for the curry?

Time for a tour, and a bit of shopping:

A hat, so I don’t freeze to death

A left-handed spatula, as my breakfasts will be omelettes

A water bottle for the apartment so Cat doesn’t have to bring one

And a few tiny boxes, as a housewarming gift for when Cat gets here

On to the mall, and mission COATANDSOCKS

[nosleeptilportland]

It's a party, with pedals

(or attn: Ford, I'm available for your marketing team)

Today I rented this vehicle:

The incredible, engaging Ford Fiesta ES automatic, here seen in classic... some glossy black. It has four wheels, several seats and two pedals. So what's it like to drive? Surprisingly ok.

The good:

- The seats have a decent shape and a comfortable, grippy fabric

- The handling is very tight, and brakes responsive

- If you stomp on the pedal the (presumably) very tiny motor screams up to it's 6500 rpm redline and it actually gets out of it's own way pretty well

The bad:

- The part throttle response is super choppy; I don't know if it's a bad fueling map or an intrusive transmission but it stumbles and jerks if you're very light on the gas.

Final opinion: buy this car if you don't have too much to carry, like black, and aren't overly gentle with the throttle. Or just get the ST model.

[nosleeptilportland]

SO IT BEGINS (or, day one in earnest)

6AM: Up surprisingly quickly. Jetlag isn’t really hitting me and the lack of sleep on the flight is actually paying off.  I’ve heard horror stories of the lines at this place: 

and I was keen to avoid them.  In readiness for this (brief) journey I had downloaded the local public transport (TriMet) app (HopCard).  Given this is new tech, in a new city, to be used in a time-critical task, one might think I would have tested this before sunrise.  Indeed. Instead (likely because the NFC on my stone tablet of a phone wasn’t compatible) I had the pleasant experience of banging my phone against the reader like an idiot, holding up a line of people and an already late bus.  From this we get the first lesson in social engineering of the day; if you make someone’s life difficult they give you free stuff, in this case a 2.5 hour pass just so I’d get on the bus.  Yay me. I arrived at the DMV just after 7, and with an empty belly and an hour to kill I turned 180 degrees and selected:

as my restaurant of choice.  

Breakfast:

Question for anyone who knows: what do you call the thing on the left? Its not a pinwheel, or a scroll in Portland.  Eventually I just pointed at it and nodded.  Spinach and pine nut, because it made me think of Cat. 20 minutes go by (so, 7:20) and there’s 5 people in line.  

Did I mention the DMV opens at 8?  Its also mid-40s outside... oh well, this is what we’re here for.  I slot in at #5.  By the time the doors open, there’s 30 people in line. I won’t regale you with tales of the DMV, but 1,2, skip a few and we end up here:

yay me.  Its worth acknowledging the staff at this DMV; they were all incredibly friendly and helpful, to the point of refunding me when they realised I’d originally taken the more expensive and less optimal approach of applying for an ID Card instead of just taking the permit.  I don’t know if they do Yelp reviews of public services, but “would recommend to a friend”. Now that we can drive, lets not!

Back to the apartment for a wardrobe change, a full intro of the facilities at Yard (my first night in was a few minutes before offices closed, more of a handshakes and keys (and a lot of forms) sort of affair).  A quick bit of due diligence:

and we’re off to become a proper voter.  I picked up my skateboard at this point, which was definitely the right decision. Like most cities Portland shrinks when you have wheels, and the sidewalks are in the majority unbroken enough to make travel pretty efficient. Time for more forms!

(not pictured, actual voter registration)

It is at this point that I question the arrangement of the days tasks, having somehow planned them to incorporate the maximum number of river crossings possible.  Oh well, since we have to do it, why not skate it!

Its a lovely view, but what isn’t obvious is the FOUR times I have to take sets of concrete stairs, under the highway, out of view of anyone save the homeless and some people clearly not in full control of their faculties.  It was all fine, but I’d question whether its wise to do it after dark.

Here we learn another fun fact:if a city is built on a river, then everywhere in that city is UPHILL from the river... lesson learnt.  Bus away from the river, skate back to the river.  Destination!

Acquisition!

Food!

Honestly I chose this place because it was mostly empty and the music was quiet, and I had to make some calls to book my driving test (which I did).  It turned out quite refreshing and not too heavy, I could see it becoming a regular lunch destination if I work in the CBD. Menu (one side at least. I had the Smoky bowl):

One last big task for the day; herd immunity (for me).  February is late in the flu season and as such it was quite a task to find somewhere that had stocks remaining.  Time to make some calls.  Time for MASSAGE CHAIRS at the Lloyd Center.  Sadly no actual mall time, but rewards are earnt.  Half a dozen calls later and I discover a Rite-Aid out towards Milwaukie with a few needles left for the under 65 set.  The route takes me on my first proper light rail trip in Portland to what I think is Gresham?

short visit because we’re back on an extremely packed bus (4pm will do that) for a fairly long (20min isn’t long but its ages compared to the morning links) trip south.  

SUCCESS!  STABBED!

On the way home I skipped the final link in the public transport chain and did a bit more skating.  Nothing of note aside from the discovery of a savoury pie shop in Portland.  Challenge. Accepted.

Home, another wardrobe change (the rain started to fall post flu shot so I bundled up) and off for some local Japanese fare at Marukin Ramen.

SO GOOD.  Will try to make it back to have a go at the sushi. I saw chirashi on the menu...

Plans for tomorrow set, a car rented and a schedule laid out.  More on that when it actually happens....

[nosleeptilportland]

for the write-only database

Some casual advice for international flights: 1. Your arrival time for one flight should not overlap with your next flight’s boarding time.

2. Neck pillow.  No, really. 4.5 billion years of evolution has strangely not prepared the human spine for sitting rigidly upright for 12 hours in an unsupportive chair.

3. Aisle seat ftw. Dehydration is bad, but no one likes asking the end of the row to move out of the way. Fun fact: if you just walk into the food prep area on a plane and fill your own glass from the faucet no one stops you. Of course none of this works if you don’t hold onto your little plastic cup, or even better bring a bottle on the plane.

[nosleeptilportland]

So it begins... A hectic week of last minute flight planning, rushed rental agreements and driving test reviews had culminated in... a casual wait for boarding time.

Here begins our first tangible steps in the journey to start again in a new place, to find a new home.