onfocus

Hey Oregon amateur photographers, you may be interested in this photo contest: Photo of the Year. There's a $15 submission fee that goes directly to the Multnomah Outdoor School.

Note to self: don't broadcast on 121.5 MHz. Area Man's Television Sends National Distress Signal (aka Mystery signal traced to TV). Television malfunctions, hilarity ensues.

Update: This story is now international news. (Corvallis is world-famous for a malfunctioning TV!)

The biggest question I have after moving to the Pacific Northwest: Should I carry an umbrella or not? Since the move, there have been more rainy days than clear here and I've noticed that there aren't too many people with umbrellas. Sure I spot one here and there, but why aren't they everywhere? Why don't businesses have umbrella bins near their entrances so I can stash my umbrella until I'm ready to leave? Why isn't every store selling designer umbrellas, and why aren't street vendors shouting "umbrella!" from every corner? When it rains in San Francisco, you see umbrellas lined up—bobbing up and down the street—one in each hand. Oregonians seem to have a different relationship with the rain, and I feel self-conscious when I pop open my umbrella. I imagine that every long-time Oregonian turns when they hear that umbrella woosh and whisper under their breath how gauche, heads held high in the rain.

skp and I went out to the Oregon coast today. We visited Newport and Waldport, and toured two lighthouses. The gray, rainy day gave the lighthouses an eerie feel—especially since the power was out at Yaquina Head. Walking up to the top of that lighthouse, I felt my legs shake a bit as I saw the stairs spiraling below me. Waves were thundering against the rocks outside, and it sounded (and felt) like a sharp slamming door. We had a nice chat with the interpretive guide at the top, though, and I was just fine on the way down.

To keep my camera dry, I made it "waterproof" with a plastic bag I found in the glove box and a stretchy-hair thing (wrapped around the lens) that skp had. I'd like to find something like it that I can reuse in the future, but I don't remember seeing waterproof cases for camera bodies in any shops.


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Downtown Corvallis

It's finally starting to hit me that skp and I are in our last two weeks of living in the Bay Area. We found an apartment, reserved a truck, and we're beginning to fill boxes. This next week we'll be doing serious packing and making trips to our new home. We'll be living in transition. I haven't even had a chance to feel sad about leaving because I've been so busy getting ready to go. I know I'm going to miss it. I fell in love with Sebastopol and the whole Bay Area as soon as I moved here in late 1998—especially the Sonoma County geography, weather, and attitude. We have fantastic friends and family here, know back roads, and have favorite spots for working, eating, relaxing. We love being able to drive an hour to visit San Francisco, and we've walked hundreds of miles of trails from the coast to Yosemite. We love our house on a hill that has great views of Mt. St. Helena and west Santa Rosa. But we feel like it's time to start a new chapter. It's time to discover new favorite places, walk different trails, and explore different cities. Saying goodbye is the hardest part of moving, but we won't be out of touch. We'll just be 600 miles north in Corvallis, Oregon.

Bus sign - Corvallis, OR

Post Office Gargoyle - Corvallis, OR

We spent Sunday in Portland. We started and ended the day at Powell's Books. It's three stories and an entire city-block of books. I could have spent the whole day browsing there. There are other specialty Powell's stores around Portland: cooking, technical, and travel. (It's not the only game in town, though, because we saw quite a few book stores.) We spent the rest of the day walking around the city. It was a very nice time with beautiful weather. I'm looking forward to visiting Portland again. I took a bunch of pictures. I hope you like buildings.


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The painted cows in a few of the pictures are part of the CowParade project.