Catching Up

It's been a while since I posted anything, but not for lack of material. Rather, I've been silenced by a lack of the internet connection we used to pick up from our balcony, and being generally busy. Without further ado and in no particular order:

Housing search

We've been looking for a new place to live. We really like our current apartment, but we've been running a deficit for most of the year and our already obscene rent is about to get increased.

Trying to find a place has been insanely stressful. All of the cheap places suck, all of the expensive places are expensive, and all of the reasonably priced places don't allow cats. I've skipped out early on work three of the last four work days, and spent the better part of the time that I was at work on Craigslist. After seriously considering a depressing-looking duplex next to a gigantic substation (BZZZZZZZZZZ!), I think we've finally found an apartment that's nice, affordable, allows cats, and isn't halfway to Eugene.

If this doesn't work out we'll probably just live in the woods.

I think I'll call it gravity

I was riding my bike home in the pouring rain the other day because the bike rack was already full on the bus. A pear fell out of a tree and hit me on the head. Fortunately, I was wearing my helmet.

Most successful Albany trip ever

For those back home, Albany is to Corvallis as Lynnwood is to Edmonds. It's the soulless sister that's nice to have around if you need a Target or a shopping mall or something. Only since it's Oregon, you actually leave town and drive through some countryside to get there.

I kind of like going to Albany. It feels like an outing and we'll usually stop at Davis Family Farm for some fresh fruits and vegetables on the way home. But this trip to Albany I was not looking forward to.

Our car has been acting weird for about 10,000 miles. It's been doing this lurching thing that's kind of hard to describe. You'll just be driving and the oomph will drop right out of the car, then suddenly come back, and it'll do that repeatedly. We were taking our car to the dealership in Albany. We've been avoiding it since we have negative money, but Allison needs the car every day and the check engine light came on and stayed on for a few days, so we figured we better do it before getting bit by some catastrophic breakdown.

So we make an appointment, I skip out on work again, we take the car in, we play our DSes in the lobby, and when the guy comes out he says, "alright, you're good to go." We were expecting him to come back with some multi-thousand dollar appraisal, so we double-check, "you mean, it's fixed?" He says that the throttle sensor was going out, he replaced it, and it's covered by the warranty. Total price: $0.

As we drive home from Albany in our now smooth-running, luxury sedan, I'm feeling a bit stupid for not bringing it in 10,000 miles earlier, but mostly elated at having the car fixed for free.

Since that cost us nothing, we decided to stop at Davis Family Farm. We bought some blackberries, three ears of corn, and I picked out the smallest squash they had (Allison doesn't like squash). The lady rings us up and gives me the squash for free. Woohoo! Thanks, lady!

We walk outside and I couldn't be feeling better about the world. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, I've got a free squash in one hand and the keys to my fixed car in the other when I look down.

There, stuck in the mud, is a ten dollar bill.

True story, folks.