Well it has been a while since I have had time and inspiration to update my blog. For some reason life has sort of been on hold. I really don't know what has happened. It is not as if there have been any major changes, it is just that for some reason I have put the pause on activities. I am slowly returning to my normal way of life: gym, studying, reading, writing, cooking. I mean really! I am a whole month off of my GRE schedule!!! Gurrrrrr. Well there is no one to blame but myself.
This past weekend I took a vacation to Portland, OR. I think that Portland if a very nice city. I used to think that I would want to live there. After doing some exploring I wonder if I really could live there. Hmmm. I think that I could only live in very select areas. As much as I don't like living in high volume areas in San Francisco, I think that I would have to in Portland otherwise I might feel a little stranded. If anyone has any insite on living in Portland, OR without a car, please leave a comment.
Well my trip was really nice. I learned that being a tourist while you have a smartphone is MUCH easier than without one. I am one of those people who likes to constantly check maps. So have a little homing device that also tells the time and allows you to take pictures at the same time is pretty darn good. This time around I ventured far from the downtown Portland. Went as far as the McMenamins Kennedy School in NE Portland and down to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in SE Portland.Sure my map obsession can wear on people, but isn't that better than me giving up on going to places because I can't tell where I am and I hate getting lost (arg, I still regret not finding a yarn shop during my semester in London).
One of the first places that I went to was VooDoo Doughnuts. This is a tiny little shop with a lot of character. The doughnuts were pretty darn good. I recommend the Old Dirty Bastard washed down with some milk. YUM. I learned that if you are going to go to VDD then you should go during the week. Because during the weekend there is this thing called Market Day (yes, it's called Market Day even though it is Saturday and Sunday). During the weekend people line up around the corner!Craziness. Well I guess that if I were smarter I would have bought more than one at a time. There were a lot of niknaks and that added to the decor of VDD but my favorite was the ATM. I barely saw any graffittie in the areas of Portland that I was in, so it seems that all of the taggers in town just took it on on VooDoo Doughnuts' ATM.
In San Francisco there is a museum... more like an educational playground really... called the Exloratorium. It is a really cool museum where you can interact with all of the exhibits. It is a really great place and Portland has their own version. called Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI for short). There were some interesting exhibits, but it was really more of a family oriented thing. You know, bright rooms, lots of primary colors. One of my favorite exhibits was the spinning platter. In this exhibit there was a large table with a spinning platter in the center, You could take balls and hold them so that they would start spinning. If done properly you can let go and they would stay in place on the plater. If it is done inccorectly then the balls just go flying off. I am sure that there is a lesson to be learned there. And I am also sure that at some point I learned it. But I can't remember, so it is all just good fun.
During the trip I ate some really good food. Rather than going into detail (I might Yelp! about it later) I will just list a couple of places
On the knitting scene I have not really made any progress. I am almost done with the first pattern on the Hanami sampler stole and I am just started the waist shaping on the Alice Top. Things are going slow. There is a secret project that i need to start ASAP. We will see.
Well my trip was really nice. I learned that being a tourist while you have a smartphone is MUCH easier than without one. I am one of those people who likes to constantly check maps. So have a little homing device that also tells the time and allows you to take pictures at the same time is pretty darn good. This time around I ventured far from the downtown Portland. Went as far as the McMenamins Kennedy School in NE Portland and down to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in SE Portland.Sure my map obsession can wear on people, but isn't that better than me giving up on going to places because I can't tell where I am and I hate getting lost (arg, I still regret not finding a yarn shop during my semester in London).
One of the first places that I went to was VooDoo Doughnuts. This is a tiny little shop with a lot of character. The doughnuts were pretty darn good. I recommend the Old Dirty Bastard washed down with some milk. YUM. I learned that if you are going to go to VDD then you should go during the week. Because during the weekend there is this thing called Market Day (yes, it's called Market Day even though it is Saturday and Sunday). During the weekend people line up around the corner!Craziness. Well I guess that if I were smarter I would have bought more than one at a time. There were a lot of niknaks and that added to the decor of VDD but my favorite was the ATM. I barely saw any graffittie in the areas of Portland that I was in, so it seems that all of the taggers in town just took it on on VooDoo Doughnuts' ATM. 
In San Francisco there is a museum... more like an educational playground really... called the Exloratorium. It is a really cool museum where you can interact with all of the exhibits. It is a really great place and Portland has their own version. called Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI for short). There were some interesting exhibits, but it was really more of a family oriented thing. You know, bright rooms, lots of primary colors. One of my favorite exhibits was the spinning platter. In this exhibit there was a large table with a spinning platter in the center, You could take balls and hold them so that they would start spinning. If done properly you can let go and they would stay in place on the plater. If it is done inccorectly then the balls just go flying off. I am sure that there is a lesson to be learned there. And I am also sure that at some point I learned it. But I can't remember, so it is all just good fun.
During the trip I ate some really good food. Rather than going into detail (I might Yelp! about it later) I will just list a couple of places
On the knitting scene I have not really made any progress. I am almost done with the first pattern on the Hanami sampler stole and I am just started the waist shaping on the Alice Top. Things are going slow. There is a secret project that i need to start ASAP. We will see.
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