Markum Inn
My belly is stuffed beyond normal expansion. They had to open another whole wing in that department to make room for all the guests. That was one hell of a satisfying dinner. We dined exactly as we had planned. Though I was planning on going with the single-stack Jumbo Markum burger, Kristen talked me into a double (which is what I had last time). It's a perfect American burger: a wide toasted bun, two 1/2 lb patties of exquisite American beef, two thin slices of ham, cascades of melty American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, special sauce. We couldn't kind put our fingers on why it was so good but I think it has to do with the quality ingredients (go figure) and the perfect interplay of textures from the crunchy interior surface of the bun, the firm but yielding beef patty, and the soft cheese. Their fries are great with the little remnants of potato peel on the ends. Then, of course, the aforementioned Markum Mud dessert. Hooo dawgy, dems some good eats!
And to make the Farewell American Dinner even more perfect, the waitresses set up a table for 25 near us and in walked 12-15 cowboys with thier gals. They were dressed like cowboys right out of a western flic, minus the six-shooters. Down to the hats, scarves, and spurs that jingled as they walked. They just came in from a nine day ride from Eastern Oregon. Well, needless to say, our night was complete.
--RP--
Sunday, August 31
Saturday, August 30
Add another expensive aspect of expatriation to the list...
We just went to the UPS Store to ship our computer. Ended up costing a little over $300! After getting over the shock, we deliberated on it a while and decided to go with it anyway. It's a great computer and well worth the cost. It will be much cheaper than buying a new one in Europe, certainly. Plus, it's set up the way we like it and has another year of warranty left on it. We feel good about the decision. It's just a big nut to give up. And, of course, it had to go on credit.
We were originally going to ship at the Postal Annex in Canby (much closer than The UPS Store in Tigard), but when we got there we found out they had special "holiday hours" and had closed two hours earlier than usual. Too bad they didn't say that on their voice-mail which we had checked in the morning. However, it ended up being a good thing that we had to drive out to Tigard instead. Postal Annex apparently charges about $50 more for shipping than where we went. The proprietor's of the store we went to used to be a Mailboxes Etc. They said The UPS Store prices are much cheaper. Anyway, we should have our computer by Sept. 9th or earlier.
So, now we're computerless. One step further away from self-reliance. This blog post was typed at Jake's computer! It's the purging process before we are "reborn".
On the down side, I won't be able to ship my box of 140 CDs like I had planned. Not spending another $200-$300 for that! Sucks because I like my CDs and I like having options of what to listen to. I'll just have to narrow it down even more (140 was narrowed down from about 500 total). Shove some in the suitcases and then just bring some more when we are back in this neck of the woods.
This morning Jake and I brought the large items that didn't sell in our yard-sale over to a neighbor's yard sale. Our table and chair set sold by mid-day. Cross that off the list! I suddenly feel much lighter.
By the way, I called the INS (or as it's now called the BCIS) to find out about how long I am allowed to stay out of the country before something happens to my residency status. Officially, it's a year. I asked the guy how they know when someone leaves, since they only check you when you come in. He said that when you enter the other country, it is reported back and that "things are more connected than you think". Sounded very ominous. It was kind of a creepy conversation. When I got through to this guy he first asked me what state I was calling from and then if "there was a name he could call me for the duration of the call". And if I start thinking of Orwell's "1984", would I be off-base? That's not a criticism. This country should tighten up the borders a little more. As a whole, people are not responsible enough to handle total freedom. But, I digress. If I wanted to stay out of the country longer, I can file a form pleading for "Advanced Parole" which extends the period of vacancy to 2 years. However, it takes about 15 months to process the form and costs $110. I think I'll hold off on that. Anyway, if I understand the instructions on the form correctly, I won't lose my greencard if I'm away longer than a year. The only thing that happens is that I will have to wait another 7 years before I can apply for "naturalization" (becoming a US citizen). I've been eligible since about 1995 or so and I still haven't taken that leap of faith. What's another 7 years? The only thing you get in return is the ability to vote and that isn't all that useful as was made abundantly clear in 2000. (I'll refrain from the political debate). Again, I digress.
All we have left to do is finish packing and make one final trip to the storage room. Tomorrow night we are going to Markum Inn for dinner. It's a perfect slice of Americana... a country family restaurant in the middle of Oregon farmlands. Steaks, burgers, and cheap beer. Really good food. Their famous burger is the "Jumbo-burger" and let me tell ya, it is HUGE. First time I ordered it, I thought "Yeah, right... we'll see how big it is". I had to cut it in four pieces to be able to eat it and even then I could only do 3/4ths of it. Mind you, I should have stopped at 1/2, especially since we ordered a dessert that made you want to end it all, right there! Markum Mud... a banana-split-sized "boat" with a gooey, warm brownie, three of four scoops of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Not exotic, but unbelievably good. After that dinner, I was painfully stuffed. So, to say farewell to the United States properly, we're going to stuff ourselves with a fattening dinner and top it off with a sweet dessert. Then we're going to go home and go to sleep!
--RP--
We just went to the UPS Store to ship our computer. Ended up costing a little over $300! After getting over the shock, we deliberated on it a while and decided to go with it anyway. It's a great computer and well worth the cost. It will be much cheaper than buying a new one in Europe, certainly. Plus, it's set up the way we like it and has another year of warranty left on it. We feel good about the decision. It's just a big nut to give up. And, of course, it had to go on credit.
We were originally going to ship at the Postal Annex in Canby (much closer than The UPS Store in Tigard), but when we got there we found out they had special "holiday hours" and had closed two hours earlier than usual. Too bad they didn't say that on their voice-mail which we had checked in the morning. However, it ended up being a good thing that we had to drive out to Tigard instead. Postal Annex apparently charges about $50 more for shipping than where we went. The proprietor's of the store we went to used to be a Mailboxes Etc. They said The UPS Store prices are much cheaper. Anyway, we should have our computer by Sept. 9th or earlier.
So, now we're computerless. One step further away from self-reliance. This blog post was typed at Jake's computer! It's the purging process before we are "reborn".
On the down side, I won't be able to ship my box of 140 CDs like I had planned. Not spending another $200-$300 for that! Sucks because I like my CDs and I like having options of what to listen to. I'll just have to narrow it down even more (140 was narrowed down from about 500 total). Shove some in the suitcases and then just bring some more when we are back in this neck of the woods.
This morning Jake and I brought the large items that didn't sell in our yard-sale over to a neighbor's yard sale. Our table and chair set sold by mid-day. Cross that off the list! I suddenly feel much lighter.
By the way, I called the INS (or as it's now called the BCIS) to find out about how long I am allowed to stay out of the country before something happens to my residency status. Officially, it's a year. I asked the guy how they know when someone leaves, since they only check you when you come in. He said that when you enter the other country, it is reported back and that "things are more connected than you think". Sounded very ominous. It was kind of a creepy conversation. When I got through to this guy he first asked me what state I was calling from and then if "there was a name he could call me for the duration of the call". And if I start thinking of Orwell's "1984", would I be off-base? That's not a criticism. This country should tighten up the borders a little more. As a whole, people are not responsible enough to handle total freedom. But, I digress. If I wanted to stay out of the country longer, I can file a form pleading for "Advanced Parole" which extends the period of vacancy to 2 years. However, it takes about 15 months to process the form and costs $110. I think I'll hold off on that. Anyway, if I understand the instructions on the form correctly, I won't lose my greencard if I'm away longer than a year. The only thing that happens is that I will have to wait another 7 years before I can apply for "naturalization" (becoming a US citizen). I've been eligible since about 1995 or so and I still haven't taken that leap of faith. What's another 7 years? The only thing you get in return is the ability to vote and that isn't all that useful as was made abundantly clear in 2000. (I'll refrain from the political debate). Again, I digress.
All we have left to do is finish packing and make one final trip to the storage room. Tomorrow night we are going to Markum Inn for dinner. It's a perfect slice of Americana... a country family restaurant in the middle of Oregon farmlands. Steaks, burgers, and cheap beer. Really good food. Their famous burger is the "Jumbo-burger" and let me tell ya, it is HUGE. First time I ordered it, I thought "Yeah, right... we'll see how big it is". I had to cut it in four pieces to be able to eat it and even then I could only do 3/4ths of it. Mind you, I should have stopped at 1/2, especially since we ordered a dessert that made you want to end it all, right there! Markum Mud... a banana-split-sized "boat" with a gooey, warm brownie, three of four scoops of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Not exotic, but unbelievably good. After that dinner, I was painfully stuffed. So, to say farewell to the United States properly, we're going to stuff ourselves with a fattening dinner and top it off with a sweet dessert. Then we're going to go home and go to sleep!
--RP--
Friday, August 29
Well, all of our "big things to do" have been done. We just turned in the Jeep to the dealership, so we're carless. Apartment is secured, financial aid has gone through, storage room is paid through 9/18/04, yard sale is done with. Now all that is left is to pack our clothes (which we will do over the next couple of days), take some stuff to Postal Annex to be shipped, and a few other odds and ends.
Feels pretty strange to be without a car. On one hand, we have become more and more unencumbered over the last couple of months, but on the other hand we have become much less self-reliant (living in someone else's house for free and now having to rely on borrowing a vehicle for further transportation, for example). I guess we had to do that in order to become more self-reliant than we were in the beginning. Our move to Belgium will be a HUGE excerise in self-reliance. And it's going to be great!
The final three days are going to fly by. In no time we're going to be standing in line to board an aircraft. Everything familiar and safe is going to be replaced by a great unknown. I have not a single clue as to how this coming year will play out. Not a clue! Will I find a job in a brewery? Or a job at all? Will we be able to assimilate before our spirits are crushed by feeling like outsiders? Strangers in a strange land. Things as simple as buying groceries or getting a hair-cut could potentially be a lot more difficult than ever because of language issues. "Sprekt u engels?" and "Parlez englais?" are going to be our catch-phrases.
My head's swimming...
--RP--
Feels pretty strange to be without a car. On one hand, we have become more and more unencumbered over the last couple of months, but on the other hand we have become much less self-reliant (living in someone else's house for free and now having to rely on borrowing a vehicle for further transportation, for example). I guess we had to do that in order to become more self-reliant than we were in the beginning. Our move to Belgium will be a HUGE excerise in self-reliance. And it's going to be great!
The final three days are going to fly by. In no time we're going to be standing in line to board an aircraft. Everything familiar and safe is going to be replaced by a great unknown. I have not a single clue as to how this coming year will play out. Not a clue! Will I find a job in a brewery? Or a job at all? Will we be able to assimilate before our spirits are crushed by feeling like outsiders? Strangers in a strange land. Things as simple as buying groceries or getting a hair-cut could potentially be a lot more difficult than ever because of language issues. "Sprekt u engels?" and "Parlez englais?" are going to be our catch-phrases.
My head's swimming...
--RP--
Thursday, August 28
The ongoing complications between the Unversity of Kent and SallieMae appear to be over. I just checked my financial aid status online and the money is finally on its way. I have never used financial aid for college before, so this has been a new and unpleasant experience for me. The learning process started when I realized that I would not be able to pay my tuition on my own (due to our paychecks for May and June remaining unpaid). I did some research and found that Stafford loans are the best financial aid for graduate school, with super-low interest rates and flexible repayment schedules. Most European schools don't accept U.S. financial aid, so I really expected to be taking out a personal loan. Around mid-June I checked the University of Kent's website to see what my options were. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the university would accept U.S. federal Stafford loans, so following the school's instructions, I filled out the appropriate forms and sent them to the financial aid office. They processed them and sent them to SallieMae here in the states. The forms were mailed from England on July 10 and received by SallieMae on July 18. I heard nothing for weeks. Finally, in mid-August I figured I better check on the progress of my loan and contacted SallieMae. After what may have been the longest phone call ever, I learned that the school had neglected to tell me which lenders they would certify and did not indicate on their form which I was supposed to use. My loan had not progressed at all. Frantic emails between SallieMae, the UK and myself eventually resulted in the selection of a lender that we all could agree on and I thought this would solve the problem. I waited a week and heard nothing. So, I called again (the second longest phone call ever) and was told that the university had put two different dates for my end of loan/graduation date. The dates must be the same, so again, my loan was halted. SallieMae apparently was unable to compute the time difference between the east coast and the U.K., and could not get any answer from the school. By the time I contacted the school and the school faxed SallieMae, another week had gone by. The problem this time? The people at SallieMae read the dates wrong on the forms - because Europeans write the day and month in opposite order of what we are used to. It makes me wonder how anything involving different cultures in different countries ever gets done! I'm just happy that this is something I don't have to worry about any more! Yay!
~K
~K
Wednesday, August 27
Updates on the impending move...
We just sent another big chunk of change off to our landlord in Belgium. Two months rent (1790 euros or about 1944 dollars). That's one of the things that has been frustrating in this adventure. Because the US economy is piss-poor right now, the dollar is weak against the euro. So the exchange rate is really boning us, as you can see. Paying an extra $154 is not a happy feeling! On top of that, there are the fees for wiring money internationally. Washington Mutual charges $40 each time. The good thing is, now we're solid. The apartment is officially ours and we can move in when we arrive on the 3rd. Now, that's a happy feeling!
Task-wise, we're pretty close to being able to leave. The car is being inspected and returned on Friday. We have three big suitcases to pack our crap into. However, we still have to package the computer and accessories for shipment, put the remainder of our stuff in storage, sell the table and chair set, finish packing, and take care of a few more chores around the house, etc. Other than that, we could almost leave tomorrow.
There are less than 6 days until we leave. The reality of what we are doing is becoming more and more clear every day. Think about it, next Wednesday morning we will officially have moved to a foreign country! A country we have very little experience with and the majority of whose inhabitants speak languages we are just now beginning to fathom. This is not going to be easy! Then again, we never thought it would be. It's just so crazy, our future is pretty much wide open and completely unpredictable. That's scary and liberating all at once! Keep your fingers crossed for us.
--RP--
We just sent another big chunk of change off to our landlord in Belgium. Two months rent (1790 euros or about 1944 dollars). That's one of the things that has been frustrating in this adventure. Because the US economy is piss-poor right now, the dollar is weak against the euro. So the exchange rate is really boning us, as you can see. Paying an extra $154 is not a happy feeling! On top of that, there are the fees for wiring money internationally. Washington Mutual charges $40 each time. The good thing is, now we're solid. The apartment is officially ours and we can move in when we arrive on the 3rd. Now, that's a happy feeling!
Task-wise, we're pretty close to being able to leave. The car is being inspected and returned on Friday. We have three big suitcases to pack our crap into. However, we still have to package the computer and accessories for shipment, put the remainder of our stuff in storage, sell the table and chair set, finish packing, and take care of a few more chores around the house, etc. Other than that, we could almost leave tomorrow.
There are less than 6 days until we leave. The reality of what we are doing is becoming more and more clear every day. Think about it, next Wednesday morning we will officially have moved to a foreign country! A country we have very little experience with and the majority of whose inhabitants speak languages we are just now beginning to fathom. This is not going to be easy! Then again, we never thought it would be. It's just so crazy, our future is pretty much wide open and completely unpredictable. That's scary and liberating all at once! Keep your fingers crossed for us.
--RP--
Tuesday, August 26
I like Oregon!
Tonight I met up with a couple of guys (Scott and Andy) at The Colony Pub. They were people I "met" on the Beeradvocate.com site that I frequent. One of them, Scott, I had all ready met in person because he purchased some of my brewing equipment, but Andy happened to be one of his friends and someone who I had "talked to" on the site's internal e-mail system. Anyway, they e-mailed me and invited me for a few beers as a going away present which was really cool of them to do. It was really nice to hang out with some people with a similar passion as me. So we just chatted and tipped back a few Oregon craft brews. Not a bad night!
Hmm... there are nice people up here in Oregon!
A slightly off-topic sidenote:
Beer the old-fashioned way
An interesting article about one of the beer-styles I talked about in a previous post... brought a tear to my eye!
--RP--
Tonight I met up with a couple of guys (Scott and Andy) at The Colony Pub. They were people I "met" on the Beeradvocate.com site that I frequent. One of them, Scott, I had all ready met in person because he purchased some of my brewing equipment, but Andy happened to be one of his friends and someone who I had "talked to" on the site's internal e-mail system. Anyway, they e-mailed me and invited me for a few beers as a going away present which was really cool of them to do. It was really nice to hang out with some people with a similar passion as me. So we just chatted and tipped back a few Oregon craft brews. Not a bad night!
Hmm... there are nice people up here in Oregon!
A slightly off-topic sidenote:
Beer the old-fashioned way
An interesting article about one of the beer-styles I talked about in a previous post... brought a tear to my eye!
--RP--
Monday, August 25
Kristen's birthday today. Nanny (her grandma) came up from Eugene for lunch. We went to Puerto Vallarta, a mexican restaurant in Canby. The waitress almost spilled an entire glass of water on me. After that, she was too mortified to come back to our table. I had to flag another waiter. He called each of us "amigo" or "amiga" according to our gender. The food was a good, though I had too much of it. My plate was huge. I should have ordered a lunch portion like everyone else did.
Since Kristen and I have promised each other that we would not buy birthday gifts for each other this year, my gift to her was my vigilance all day long to try to make sure she didn't do any chores. Not an easy feat.
Since our lunch was so huge, we (Kristen, her mom, Jake, and I) had a pretty small dinner at the pub: a margarita each and a chicken club sandwich split four ways. Then we came home and had a chocolate cake that her mom had made. I am stuffed with that tasty goodness right now.
All in all, a pretty low-key, relaxing day. We're ready to go to work at the mill tomorrow!
By about 8:30 tomorrow morning, it will be 7 days until we leave!
--RP--
Since Kristen and I have promised each other that we would not buy birthday gifts for each other this year, my gift to her was my vigilance all day long to try to make sure she didn't do any chores. Not an easy feat.
Since our lunch was so huge, we (Kristen, her mom, Jake, and I) had a pretty small dinner at the pub: a margarita each and a chicken club sandwich split four ways. Then we came home and had a chocolate cake that her mom had made. I am stuffed with that tasty goodness right now.
All in all, a pretty low-key, relaxing day. We're ready to go to work at the mill tomorrow!
By about 8:30 tomorrow morning, it will be 7 days until we leave!
--RP--
Saturday, August 23
Reprise: Gotta Love Small Towns!
Today was a busy day. We got up at 6:30 in the morning to so that we could start setting up our yard sale at 7:00. Since we priced everything last night, all we really had to do was move the stuff out onto the driveway. Then I put up our three signs to divert customers in our direction. All in all, a pretty successful sale. J & J made about $220 and we made $198. Unfortunately, we didn't sell our table and chair set. We had tried to sell it in Arizona but that fizzled miserably due to some stupid reasons that I won't even bring up now. We're keeping the top to the table (a really cool circular tiled piece), but we can't fit the hardware in our storage room. The set is sitting out in the front yard with a For Sale sign on it now.
Kristen went to work at 9:45, so I pretty much manned the sale on my own. Though, Jake came out once in a while to do his salesman schtick, which worked pretty well! We started wrapping it up at 3:00 with a few interruptions from some last minute yard sale goers. Then it was time for a beer, before heading off to the Stouffer-Will farm for the "Sausage Dinner" put on by the Aurora Historical Society. There were about 20 attendees. I brought some of my homebrew to unleash on the thirsty crowd. I'm happy to report that people really liked it, except for a few people who were not used to beer with an actual flavor. The location of the farm was very apropos for drinking good beer: in the middle of some hop fields! This farm was founded in 1854 (?) by one of the people of the Aurora commune. This Stouffer guy was in the first expedition that headed out West from Bethel, Pennsylvannia. The house and a couple of the barn buildings are still standing. So, we got a tour of all that stuff, given by a direct descendant of the commune. Then, it was time to stuff ourselves with sausage and sauerkraut. The food was too good! I was in a delicate condition before dessert, even. Add a slice of rhubarb pie on top of that and I was ready to blow like Mr. Creosote (Monty Python reference). Funnily enough, Kristen and I both felt like overstuffed sausages after that food extravaganza.
I'll say it again, gotta love small towns!
--RP--
Today was a busy day. We got up at 6:30 in the morning to so that we could start setting up our yard sale at 7:00. Since we priced everything last night, all we really had to do was move the stuff out onto the driveway. Then I put up our three signs to divert customers in our direction. All in all, a pretty successful sale. J & J made about $220 and we made $198. Unfortunately, we didn't sell our table and chair set. We had tried to sell it in Arizona but that fizzled miserably due to some stupid reasons that I won't even bring up now. We're keeping the top to the table (a really cool circular tiled piece), but we can't fit the hardware in our storage room. The set is sitting out in the front yard with a For Sale sign on it now.
Kristen went to work at 9:45, so I pretty much manned the sale on my own. Though, Jake came out once in a while to do his salesman schtick, which worked pretty well! We started wrapping it up at 3:00 with a few interruptions from some last minute yard sale goers. Then it was time for a beer, before heading off to the Stouffer-Will farm for the "Sausage Dinner" put on by the Aurora Historical Society. There were about 20 attendees. I brought some of my homebrew to unleash on the thirsty crowd. I'm happy to report that people really liked it, except for a few people who were not used to beer with an actual flavor. The location of the farm was very apropos for drinking good beer: in the middle of some hop fields! This farm was founded in 1854 (?) by one of the people of the Aurora commune. This Stouffer guy was in the first expedition that headed out West from Bethel, Pennsylvannia. The house and a couple of the barn buildings are still standing. So, we got a tour of all that stuff, given by a direct descendant of the commune. Then, it was time to stuff ourselves with sausage and sauerkraut. The food was too good! I was in a delicate condition before dessert, even. Add a slice of rhubarb pie on top of that and I was ready to blow like Mr. Creosote (Monty Python reference). Funnily enough, Kristen and I both felt like overstuffed sausages after that food extravaganza.
I'll say it again, gotta love small towns!
--RP--
Thursday, August 21
Things are always changing...
Moved on to another job. Nike hadn't called me back in since Tuesday of last week. And the two days I worked were extremely short (sending us home by 1:00). Hardly worth getting up at 5:00 am for that! So, luckily, Mike at the Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage (where Kristen works) needed somebody. I started working there on Thursday of last week. Really great place and the people are fun to work with. The funny part is, Kristen and I are working together again! We did it in Ft. Lauderdale, LA, and Arizona. Why not in Oregon too? Anyway, I told Nike that I had found another job. No more free shoes for me!
As I write this, we have 12 days before we leave. 12! Twelve! Twaalf!
--RP--
Moved on to another job. Nike hadn't called me back in since Tuesday of last week. And the two days I worked were extremely short (sending us home by 1:00). Hardly worth getting up at 5:00 am for that! So, luckily, Mike at the Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage (where Kristen works) needed somebody. I started working there on Thursday of last week. Really great place and the people are fun to work with. The funny part is, Kristen and I are working together again! We did it in Ft. Lauderdale, LA, and Arizona. Why not in Oregon too? Anyway, I told Nike that I had found another job. No more free shoes for me!
As I write this, we have 12 days before we leave. 12! Twelve! Twaalf!
--RP--
Wednesday, August 20
The march towards Belgium continues...
We've made significant progress in our preparations to leave. Huge new suitcases have been purchased, travel medical insurance has been arranged, the first month's rent on our apartment has been wired and a garage sale is planned for Saturday. There's been a couple of wrinkles in my financial aid paperwork, due to incorrect information sent by the University to SallieMae, but I think it has all been ironed out. The Jeep is being inspected and returned to the dealer on August 29, along with an expensive pay off to the leasing company for ending my contract early. At this point, I am happy to be rid of it, no matter what I have to pay! As I was taking care of all these details this week, I was asked by assorted and sundry people...
Why Belgium?
The choice to go to Belgium was not an obvious or intentional decision. Well, actually it was intentional once we were able to define our goals. This all started over a year ago, in LA, when I realized that the television industry was not a good place for me. To keep the explanation brief -- everything you've heard about Hollywood is true and I couldn't live that way. Rich was a little more insulated from the shit than I was, so he didn't reach his saturation point until a little later. But reach it he did and by the end of the summer, there we both were, two dorks with film degrees living in LA and not wanting to play the game. What to do?? For me, more education seemed the most logical route since a master's degree in film is not very marketable (even in the entertainment industry!). There seemed to be only one choice, and that was trying for a PhD in mass communication, until a brilliant friend of mine asked me why I would continue in a field that I clearly did not want to be in. A bolt of lightning! I realized that not only could I go back to school, I could actually study anything I wanted to, although it would require another master's degree before the PhD. But hey, why not? I love school!
Researching various degree programs led me to two areas that seemed most interesting: international relations and cultural studies. Cultural studies eventually fell by the wayside when I realized that the only career path would most likely be teaching. I wouldn't mind being a professor, but I wanted to have some other options as well. So, I requested information about international relations' programs from schools all over the country, examined their websites for faculty publications and department resources, and we really thought about where we wanted to live while I was going to school. Rich and I spent weeks looking at maps and reading about various cities, from Chapel Hill NC to Syracuse NY to Davis CA. Nothing was clicking. The programs were not exactly what I wanted and none of the cities excited us. Finally, Rich, in a casual offhand way, suggested Europe. This had not occurred to me and I was immediately enraptured with the idea. A whole new frenzy of research resulted in the conclusion that we wanted to be in Western Europe and it had to be an English language program. That narrowed the field pretty quickly! It would have to be the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden or France. For a variety of reasons, Sweden, The Netherlands and France were ruled out. We talked more about it and decided that if we were going to do this, we should take the plunge and choose a non-English speaking country. Also, by this time, Rich was fully into homebrewing and was considering it a possible new profession. So Belgium became the obvious choice and won out in the end. Its kind of a compromise, the University is British, but we will be living in a French-speaking city in the middle of a Dutch-speaking country. Just in case school isn't challenging enough!
~K
We've made significant progress in our preparations to leave. Huge new suitcases have been purchased, travel medical insurance has been arranged, the first month's rent on our apartment has been wired and a garage sale is planned for Saturday. There's been a couple of wrinkles in my financial aid paperwork, due to incorrect information sent by the University to SallieMae, but I think it has all been ironed out. The Jeep is being inspected and returned to the dealer on August 29, along with an expensive pay off to the leasing company for ending my contract early. At this point, I am happy to be rid of it, no matter what I have to pay! As I was taking care of all these details this week, I was asked by assorted and sundry people...
Why Belgium?
The choice to go to Belgium was not an obvious or intentional decision. Well, actually it was intentional once we were able to define our goals. This all started over a year ago, in LA, when I realized that the television industry was not a good place for me. To keep the explanation brief -- everything you've heard about Hollywood is true and I couldn't live that way. Rich was a little more insulated from the shit than I was, so he didn't reach his saturation point until a little later. But reach it he did and by the end of the summer, there we both were, two dorks with film degrees living in LA and not wanting to play the game. What to do?? For me, more education seemed the most logical route since a master's degree in film is not very marketable (even in the entertainment industry!). There seemed to be only one choice, and that was trying for a PhD in mass communication, until a brilliant friend of mine asked me why I would continue in a field that I clearly did not want to be in. A bolt of lightning! I realized that not only could I go back to school, I could actually study anything I wanted to, although it would require another master's degree before the PhD. But hey, why not? I love school!
Researching various degree programs led me to two areas that seemed most interesting: international relations and cultural studies. Cultural studies eventually fell by the wayside when I realized that the only career path would most likely be teaching. I wouldn't mind being a professor, but I wanted to have some other options as well. So, I requested information about international relations' programs from schools all over the country, examined their websites for faculty publications and department resources, and we really thought about where we wanted to live while I was going to school. Rich and I spent weeks looking at maps and reading about various cities, from Chapel Hill NC to Syracuse NY to Davis CA. Nothing was clicking. The programs were not exactly what I wanted and none of the cities excited us. Finally, Rich, in a casual offhand way, suggested Europe. This had not occurred to me and I was immediately enraptured with the idea. A whole new frenzy of research resulted in the conclusion that we wanted to be in Western Europe and it had to be an English language program. That narrowed the field pretty quickly! It would have to be the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden or France. For a variety of reasons, Sweden, The Netherlands and France were ruled out. We talked more about it and decided that if we were going to do this, we should take the plunge and choose a non-English speaking country. Also, by this time, Rich was fully into homebrewing and was considering it a possible new profession. So Belgium became the obvious choice and won out in the end. Its kind of a compromise, the University is British, but we will be living in a French-speaking city in the middle of a Dutch-speaking country. Just in case school isn't challenging enough!
~K
Friday, August 15
Neko Case at the Oregon Zoo
We just got back from a fantastic live show. One of my favorite "chicks that rock", Neko Case sings soulful, dark, "country" songs. It's not "country" in the Shania Twain sense, more of a Patsy Cline meets Concrete Blonde. Neko has the most amazing voice with an incredible range. Goosebump city! She's an incredibly talented lass who should be a lot more celebrated than she is. Although, there was a great turn-out at the Oregon Zoo this evening. Pretty cool venue; all lawn with no seats, but you can throw down a blanket and bring a picnic which is what we did. And you can't beat free parking and the freedom to wander around the zoo before seeing the show. Plus, the energy is so great there. A sort of peaceful vibe because of all the animals. The stage is right near the elephant paddock. It was a beautiful, brisk, clear night following an irreverant sunset. Perfect night for an outdoor show and a perfect night it was.
Kristen had packed a French ham baguette sandwich, some cold salads, and cookies for dessert. Other people had everything from concessions purchased at the zoo to an elaborate 4-course picnic feast. Our supper hit the spot, especially washed down with a couple of craft-brews.
The opening act, Buddy Miller, played for quite a long time. Neko came on at twilight and played an amazing set followed by a long encore. She has great stage presence and makes everyone feel welcome with her bantering between songs. I feel very fortunate that we were able to see this show. It was a rare event. We left very satiated and happy. Definitely one of the highlights of the summer or the year, even.
If you don't know much about Neko Case, I have provided the necessary learning tools below. After checking out the web-sites and, perhaps, listening to some clips. Go buy one of her albums. The newest one, "Blacklisted", is stunningly beautiful and I think will prove to be the album that brought her out into the Limelight a little more. I highly recommend you give her a listen.
http://www.nekocase.com
http://bloodshotrecords.com/bands.php3?bandid=24
We just got back from a fantastic live show. One of my favorite "chicks that rock", Neko Case sings soulful, dark, "country" songs. It's not "country" in the Shania Twain sense, more of a Patsy Cline meets Concrete Blonde. Neko has the most amazing voice with an incredible range. Goosebump city! She's an incredibly talented lass who should be a lot more celebrated than she is. Although, there was a great turn-out at the Oregon Zoo this evening. Pretty cool venue; all lawn with no seats, but you can throw down a blanket and bring a picnic which is what we did. And you can't beat free parking and the freedom to wander around the zoo before seeing the show. Plus, the energy is so great there. A sort of peaceful vibe because of all the animals. The stage is right near the elephant paddock. It was a beautiful, brisk, clear night following an irreverant sunset. Perfect night for an outdoor show and a perfect night it was.
Kristen had packed a French ham baguette sandwich, some cold salads, and cookies for dessert. Other people had everything from concessions purchased at the zoo to an elaborate 4-course picnic feast. Our supper hit the spot, especially washed down with a couple of craft-brews.
The opening act, Buddy Miller, played for quite a long time. Neko came on at twilight and played an amazing set followed by a long encore. She has great stage presence and makes everyone feel welcome with her bantering between songs. I feel very fortunate that we were able to see this show. It was a rare event. We left very satiated and happy. Definitely one of the highlights of the summer or the year, even.
If you don't know much about Neko Case, I have provided the necessary learning tools below. After checking out the web-sites and, perhaps, listening to some clips. Go buy one of her albums. The newest one, "Blacklisted", is stunningly beautiful and I think will prove to be the album that brought her out into the Limelight a little more. I highly recommend you give her a listen.
http://www.nekocase.com
http://bloodshotrecords.com/bands.php3?bandid=24
Wednesday, August 13
Belgian Brewery - Job Search
OK... I just sent a letter of interest to 23 Belgian breweries. Actually, I did nine of them yesterday and the rest today. But I hand wrote the addresses on each one and signed all the letters. My hand is a bit tired from writing. I will print out some more letters tonight and mail them tomorrow, as well.
There are 39 Flemmish breweries that I am contacting. I narrowed the field by first making a spreadsheet of all the breweries including addresses, type of beers made, and the ratings on beeradvocate.com (if any). Then I used viamichelin.com to find out how far each brewery was from central Brussels, which I also put into the spreadsheet. Then I sorted by distance and got a list of breweries up to 50 miles away, as that is as far as I'm willing to travel. Out of that list I picked the ones that I'm most interested in, based on reputation or type of beers brewed. Lastly, I've categorized them by language (French or Dutch). For my first round of door-knocking, I'm focusing only on the Flemmish breweries because I will have a much easier time learning Dutch, so the language barrier won't be as big of an issue. If I come up empty-handed from those 39, then I'll knock on the other doors, making sure to knock in French. However, there are only 13 Walloonian (French-speaking) breweries within range.
That's my game-plan, at least. First, send out this letter of interest. Then, closer to our arrival, I will e-mail the ones that have e-mail addresses. After we are settled in Brussels, I will start visiting each one. With any luck, one or two will have contacted me before then to either tell me to shove my letter up my *** or ask me to please stop by when I am in town.
For grins, here's the letter:
Brouwerij So and So
Flemmish St. 999
3000 Vlaamseland
Dear Sir or Madam:
Foremost, I would like to apologize that this correspondence is in English. Please forgive me for the presumption, but I am still learning to speak Dutch and I don’t feel confident with it yet.
That aside, I am contacting you in hopes that you might have an opening in your fine brewery. I am relocating to Brussels, Belgium from Oregon, USA on September 2nd. I have been a home-brewer for several years and a lover of great beer since I first was permitted to drink it. I have some experience working in a professional brewery in Arizona, USA. I am a fast learner and cannot escape my absolute love for the brewing arts. I am also certified as a beer judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program in the U.S. and an active member on Beeradvocate.com. Belgian beer is the finest in the world and it is my hope that I can work in your brewery and learn all there is to know about it.
Though I come to you with limited professional experience, I also bring a never-ending thirst for knowledge, a strong work ethic, and some skills outside of beer brewing that you might find useful (such as web-design, network administration, writing, photography and videography).
I would also like to add that though I have lived in the states since 1984, I still hold citizenship in Denmark. So, I am legally able to work in Belgium and my native languages of Danish and Swedish help me greatly in learning to speak Dutch and Flemish.
In closing, I would like to ask you to strongly consider me as a candidate if you are currently hiring or have been in need of another hard-worker. My promise to you is that I will work hard to overcome the language barrier (if there is one) and that I will be a valuable employee.
Sincerely,
R. P.
There are 39 Flemmish breweries that I am contacting. I narrowed the field by first making a spreadsheet of all the breweries including addresses, type of beers made, and the ratings on beeradvocate.com (if any). Then I used viamichelin.com to find out how far each brewery was from central Brussels, which I also put into the spreadsheet. Then I sorted by distance and got a list of breweries up to 50 miles away, as that is as far as I'm willing to travel. Out of that list I picked the ones that I'm most interested in, based on reputation or type of beers brewed. Lastly, I've categorized them by language (French or Dutch). For my first round of door-knocking, I'm focusing only on the Flemmish breweries because I will have a much easier time learning Dutch, so the language barrier won't be as big of an issue. If I come up empty-handed from those 39, then I'll knock on the other doors, making sure to knock in French. However, there are only 13 Walloonian (French-speaking) breweries within range.
That's my game-plan, at least. First, send out this letter of interest. Then, closer to our arrival, I will e-mail the ones that have e-mail addresses. After we are settled in Brussels, I will start visiting each one. With any luck, one or two will have contacted me before then to either tell me to shove my letter up my *** or ask me to please stop by when I am in town.
For grins, here's the letter:
Brouwerij So and So
Flemmish St. 999
3000 Vlaamseland
Dear Sir or Madam:
Foremost, I would like to apologize that this correspondence is in English. Please forgive me for the presumption, but I am still learning to speak Dutch and I don’t feel confident with it yet.
That aside, I am contacting you in hopes that you might have an opening in your fine brewery. I am relocating to Brussels, Belgium from Oregon, USA on September 2nd. I have been a home-brewer for several years and a lover of great beer since I first was permitted to drink it. I have some experience working in a professional brewery in Arizona, USA. I am a fast learner and cannot escape my absolute love for the brewing arts. I am also certified as a beer judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program in the U.S. and an active member on Beeradvocate.com. Belgian beer is the finest in the world and it is my hope that I can work in your brewery and learn all there is to know about it.
Though I come to you with limited professional experience, I also bring a never-ending thirst for knowledge, a strong work ethic, and some skills outside of beer brewing that you might find useful (such as web-design, network administration, writing, photography and videography).
I would also like to add that though I have lived in the states since 1984, I still hold citizenship in Denmark. So, I am legally able to work in Belgium and my native languages of Danish and Swedish help me greatly in learning to speak Dutch and Flemish.
In closing, I would like to ask you to strongly consider me as a candidate if you are currently hiring or have been in need of another hard-worker. My promise to you is that I will work hard to overcome the language barrier (if there is one) and that I will be a valuable employee.
Sincerely,
R. P.
Tuesday, August 12
Weekend Update... belated
A couple of things happened this weekend that I wanted relay to you, Blog. Nothing outrageously interesting, just worthy of a short post.
Saturday and Sunday were Aurora Colony Days (as mentioned in a previous post). I didn't really partake in the festivites apart from seeing the parade go by the house. I videotaped most of it and had lots of candy thrown at me. Then I hopped in the car and drove to Portland to go to the Widmer Brewery tour. I was going to stop at the Oregon Zoo on the way to get tickets for this Friday's Neko Case concert, but the parking lot was full and I would have had to park and take a shuttle. No thanks, no time.
So, I went straight to the brewery. Though I'm not a HUGE fan of their beers, it is an extremely nice brewery. Not only have they been quite successful for a good portion of the 20 (?) years they've been in business, but they are also 25% owned by Annheuser-Busch. Hmmm, so this is a brewery with a big budget? Must be nice! According to the tour guide, A-B only takes care of distribution, they don't have any creative say-so. If Widmer decided to stop brewing their Hefeweizen which is 85% of their profit, A-B might have a thing or two to say about it! Anyway, after seeing the brewery which was very European in design (brick, spacious, spartan), we sampled some of their beers. Again, not something to rave about, but they're at least better than the beer A-B makes.
My next scheduled stop was to go to the Lloyd Center theater to see "28 Days Later" (not the Sandra Bullock movie!). It didn't get a really wide release, so it wasn't playing near Aurora. Since I hadn't had any lunch and I didn't have time to eat beforehand, I got some popcorn and a pepsi to tide me over til dinner. Wolfed it down during the previews, but started to feel "a little funny" within 20 minutes. Didn't really think about it much during the movie because it was transcendantly enthralling! I highly recommend it. It's a "horror film", but not like Friday the 13th. Just see it and stop making excuses!
When I get out of the theater and start driving home, I'm becoming more aware of how crappy I feel. Something is not right! And everytime I think about the popcorn, my stomach turns. So, I stop at Home Depot to take care of that day's chore (buying things needed for the house and yard) and hurry home. By the time I get there, my condition has worsened substantially. I clearly have food poisoning. After cringing away from the smell of the Campbell's soup Kristen was having for dinner, I end up staying near the bathroom and hoping that my body decides to reject my "lunch". Finally, after what seemed like two hours of anguish, I managed to exorcise the demon. Or at least most of it. Then Kristen and I faxed our signed lease-agreement to The Belgian Landlord (sounds like the title to a seedy paperback mystery). Felt a bit sluggish for the rest of the weekend and most of yesterday, though.
Sunday was spent staying away from popcorn and pretty much all other foods. I did manage to work in the yard with Jake for most of the day. We chopped up the limbs from the half of the apple tree that fell down and started putting down plastic and gravel around the pond. The only food I could stomach all day was beer (funnily enough!) and I managed to stir up a craving for mashed potatoes which is what I ended up making for dinner. Then, it was early to bed and early to rise for this Nike worker.
A side-note: On Saturday when Kristen and I went to the Aurora Colony Museum to help set up for the day, a police-officer came by to check on the building and file a report. Apparently, the alarm had gone off (we later found out that it went off at 1 AM the previous morning) and the officer needed to know the name of the manager, etc. He spoke to Joan and Kristen, so I wasn't really paying attention. Then he said, "Hey, don't you work at Nike?" Uh, yeah. "I'm so-and-so, I head the security there." Oh, yeah... I thought you looked familiar! Made me really feel like I was a factory worker in a small town where everyone knows each other because they all work for the same company. Wierd!
A couple of things happened this weekend that I wanted relay to you, Blog. Nothing outrageously interesting, just worthy of a short post.
Saturday and Sunday were Aurora Colony Days (as mentioned in a previous post). I didn't really partake in the festivites apart from seeing the parade go by the house. I videotaped most of it and had lots of candy thrown at me. Then I hopped in the car and drove to Portland to go to the Widmer Brewery tour. I was going to stop at the Oregon Zoo on the way to get tickets for this Friday's Neko Case concert, but the parking lot was full and I would have had to park and take a shuttle. No thanks, no time.
So, I went straight to the brewery. Though I'm not a HUGE fan of their beers, it is an extremely nice brewery. Not only have they been quite successful for a good portion of the 20 (?) years they've been in business, but they are also 25% owned by Annheuser-Busch. Hmmm, so this is a brewery with a big budget? Must be nice! According to the tour guide, A-B only takes care of distribution, they don't have any creative say-so. If Widmer decided to stop brewing their Hefeweizen which is 85% of their profit, A-B might have a thing or two to say about it! Anyway, after seeing the brewery which was very European in design (brick, spacious, spartan), we sampled some of their beers. Again, not something to rave about, but they're at least better than the beer A-B makes.
My next scheduled stop was to go to the Lloyd Center theater to see "28 Days Later" (not the Sandra Bullock movie!). It didn't get a really wide release, so it wasn't playing near Aurora. Since I hadn't had any lunch and I didn't have time to eat beforehand, I got some popcorn and a pepsi to tide me over til dinner. Wolfed it down during the previews, but started to feel "a little funny" within 20 minutes. Didn't really think about it much during the movie because it was transcendantly enthralling! I highly recommend it. It's a "horror film", but not like Friday the 13th. Just see it and stop making excuses!
When I get out of the theater and start driving home, I'm becoming more aware of how crappy I feel. Something is not right! And everytime I think about the popcorn, my stomach turns. So, I stop at Home Depot to take care of that day's chore (buying things needed for the house and yard) and hurry home. By the time I get there, my condition has worsened substantially. I clearly have food poisoning. After cringing away from the smell of the Campbell's soup Kristen was having for dinner, I end up staying near the bathroom and hoping that my body decides to reject my "lunch". Finally, after what seemed like two hours of anguish, I managed to exorcise the demon. Or at least most of it. Then Kristen and I faxed our signed lease-agreement to The Belgian Landlord (sounds like the title to a seedy paperback mystery). Felt a bit sluggish for the rest of the weekend and most of yesterday, though.
Sunday was spent staying away from popcorn and pretty much all other foods. I did manage to work in the yard with Jake for most of the day. We chopped up the limbs from the half of the apple tree that fell down and started putting down plastic and gravel around the pond. The only food I could stomach all day was beer (funnily enough!) and I managed to stir up a craving for mashed potatoes which is what I ended up making for dinner. Then, it was early to bed and early to rise for this Nike worker.
A side-note: On Saturday when Kristen and I went to the Aurora Colony Museum to help set up for the day, a police-officer came by to check on the building and file a report. Apparently, the alarm had gone off (we later found out that it went off at 1 AM the previous morning) and the officer needed to know the name of the manager, etc. He spoke to Joan and Kristen, so I wasn't really paying attention. Then he said, "Hey, don't you work at Nike?" Uh, yeah. "I'm so-and-so, I head the security there." Oh, yeah... I thought you looked familiar! Made me really feel like I was a factory worker in a small town where everyone knows each other because they all work for the same company. Wierd!
Monday, August 11
My visa has finally arrived. We are officially leaving! The visa is really cool looking - an opalescent silver stamp and lots of official writing underneath (all in dutch). I feel so relieved that this piece of red tape is finished. Even more exciting is that we found an apartment in Brussels right next to the Parc Cinquantenaire (Jubelpark), about 2.5km from the Grande Place (basically the center of Brussels). I will probably take a tram or the metro to school, about 15 minutes, or walk 30 minutes if its not raining. Rich will most defintely be taking the train to wherever his brewery job ends up being. The apartment is on the ground floor of a three-story, refurbished c. 1900 townhouse or "maison de maitre." At one time it was a single house, but has since been divided into five apartments. It has wood floors, high ceilings, the walls are painted white and all the old mouldings and light fixtures are in tact. There is a small courtyard off of the bedroom, too, so we can have plants outside. I am still in the process of finalizing the details and wiring the deposit money (two months' rent!) to Ingrid, the landlord. We have already signed and faxed the contract to her, as well as copies of our passports. The bank transfer will take 2-3 days, then this loose end will be tied up. The cool thing about this apartment is that it is completely furnished, including a TV, kitchen stuff, linens, etc. and utilities are included. I really didn't want to have to deal with the Belgian power company or try to figure out how to get a phone! We will be the first occupants since the refurbishment of the building, so everything is shiny and new. Yay!!
~K
~K
Friday, August 8
For the record, that cake was good... despite its pitiful appearance! I was a bit skeptical at first by the idea of zucchini and chocolate. I have been converted.
And the other record, Kristen's homemade night-gown was a successful project. As a man, I shouldn't use words like this, especially to describe clothing, but I have to say that it is quite a cute night-gown. Adorable even. It needs to be washed a few times because it still has that new-cloth crispiness to it. She has two more types of fabric and, now that she has the hang of it, I'm sure she can stitch them out in no time.
I worked at Nike again this week. However, they called us off for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I did end up getting in a fair amount of hours anyway. The beginning of each month is generally like this, I'm told. Not as much output. They wait til the end of the month to make a mad dash towards meeting their monthly goal or quota or however it is there business model is set up.
Today I sealed up a box of shoes for Harvard Women's Soccer. I suppose the team ordered each players exact size directly from us. Just last week there was a box going out to the Astros. So, I just want you to know that I've done my part to support our athletes. Now on to supporting our troops!
We just got back from an "Art Show" with free supper at the Legion Hall up the street. You'd think it would have been just a plate of veggies and a bowl of ranch, a cheese-plate if you're lucky... but this was a full-out meal in chafing dishes and bowls. I'm actually pretty stuffed. The woman who cooked it all said we had to stay until it was all gone which we didn't actually do, but I took that as permission to load up my plate. Gotta love small towns! The town is all "aflutter" because everyone is preparing for the yearly "Aurora Colony Days" which is basically a two-day celebration of the town with a parade, vendors of various ilk, and lines out the doors of each antique shop. Jake is going to drive his vintage red Volvo in the parade tomorrow. Gotta love small towns!
In other news, we think we may have found an apartment in Belgium. Well, we found many apartments, actually. But, this is may be the one. Kristen has been corresponding with the landlord and we will most likely send her the first month's rent next week. Then we have two weeks to pay an additional two months rent to be held as deposit until we eventually move out. It will be nice to have an actual address to go to when we stumble out of the airport in Belgium on the 3rd... less than 26 days from now! Holy cow, we have a lot of things to get done before then! Unfortunately, we have to keep working also. So it is going to be a busy August.
--RP--
And the other record, Kristen's homemade night-gown was a successful project. As a man, I shouldn't use words like this, especially to describe clothing, but I have to say that it is quite a cute night-gown. Adorable even. It needs to be washed a few times because it still has that new-cloth crispiness to it. She has two more types of fabric and, now that she has the hang of it, I'm sure she can stitch them out in no time.
I worked at Nike again this week. However, they called us off for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I did end up getting in a fair amount of hours anyway. The beginning of each month is generally like this, I'm told. Not as much output. They wait til the end of the month to make a mad dash towards meeting their monthly goal or quota or however it is there business model is set up.
Today I sealed up a box of shoes for Harvard Women's Soccer. I suppose the team ordered each players exact size directly from us. Just last week there was a box going out to the Astros. So, I just want you to know that I've done my part to support our athletes. Now on to supporting our troops!
We just got back from an "Art Show" with free supper at the Legion Hall up the street. You'd think it would have been just a plate of veggies and a bowl of ranch, a cheese-plate if you're lucky... but this was a full-out meal in chafing dishes and bowls. I'm actually pretty stuffed. The woman who cooked it all said we had to stay until it was all gone which we didn't actually do, but I took that as permission to load up my plate. Gotta love small towns! The town is all "aflutter" because everyone is preparing for the yearly "Aurora Colony Days" which is basically a two-day celebration of the town with a parade, vendors of various ilk, and lines out the doors of each antique shop. Jake is going to drive his vintage red Volvo in the parade tomorrow. Gotta love small towns!
In other news, we think we may have found an apartment in Belgium. Well, we found many apartments, actually. But, this is may be the one. Kristen has been corresponding with the landlord and we will most likely send her the first month's rent next week. Then we have two weeks to pay an additional two months rent to be held as deposit until we eventually move out. It will be nice to have an actual address to go to when we stumble out of the airport in Belgium on the 3rd... less than 26 days from now! Holy cow, we have a lot of things to get done before then! Unfortunately, we have to keep working also. So it is going to be a busy August.
--RP--
Monday, August 4
I like to bake stuff. That's my favorite cooking activity - baking dessert. I made a triple chocolate zucchini cake this afternoon. Wait, let me rephrase that. I tried to make a triple chocolate zucchini cake this afternoon. Jake's garden in the backyard is producing enough zucchini to feed a small city, so we thought a cake would be a good and different way (as opposed to the more common zucchini bread) to use some of them up. The recipe sounded delish. Three kinds of chocolate, cream cheese, six eggs...a very low-fat, low-cal cake. I grated, melted, measured and mixed it exactly according to the directions, then poured it into a bundt pan and baked it for the 60 required minutes. When the timer went off, I put the beautiful chocolatey-brown delicious-smelling cake on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes and then turned it upside down like I normally do. After six seconds of being upside down, the center of the cake plopped out onto the rack in a steaming glob of gooey chocolate cake, and the sides stayed in the pan like they were supposed to. I frantically tried to flip the pan back over before the entire thing ended up on the counter, but it was really hot, and I missed the rack. So, some ended up on my feet and the rest smeared onto the counter. I managed to get most of it on a plate (except for what was on my feet), so there will be some form of dessert tonight. I think I'll just call it triple chocolate zucchini pudding cake - maybe no one will notice!
~K
~K
Sunday, August 3
Just a quick, note...
K's in her mom's sewing room making nightgowns for herself. She wasn't satisfied with what was available in the stores, so she decided to buy a pattern and some material to make a few herself. I can hear her in there, frustrated. This is her first one.
I'm getting ready for another week at Nike. They generally have us do a four day week of 10-hour (atleast) days. However, this week they're having some of us come in for 5 days. I'm one of them. Hey, suits me. More overtime! Last week flew by and I'm sure this week will as well. Before we know it, we'll be boarding the plane to Belgium!
We'll be there just in time for the "Belgian Beer Weekend" on the 5th-7th at which I'll hopefully be able to hob-nob with the brewers to get some job leads. When I was at the Oregon Brewer's Fest last weekend, a writer for the brewing magazine I read said there are a lot of small farmhouse breweries that are on the verge of shutting down because they don't have a someone to continue the brewing. Apparently, the younger generation is not as interested in the actual brewing... RP to the rescue! At the very least, it gives me some hope.
Funny thing is, there's a Nike distribution center just outside Antwerp. So, it looks like I have my "plan B", something to tide me over while I keep knocking on the breweries' doors. Part of the Belgian red-tape is that I have three months to find a job and give proof of it to the "commune" we're living in so they can grant me permanent residency. Otherwise, they kick me out on the curb. Not worried about that though. I'm GOING TO find a job in a brewery anyway!
Well, that's it for now. Bed-time. Have to get up at 5am, before the sun gets up even. That ain't right!
--RP--
I'm getting ready for another week at Nike. They generally have us do a four day week of 10-hour (atleast) days. However, this week they're having some of us come in for 5 days. I'm one of them. Hey, suits me. More overtime! Last week flew by and I'm sure this week will as well. Before we know it, we'll be boarding the plane to Belgium!
We'll be there just in time for the "Belgian Beer Weekend" on the 5th-7th at which I'll hopefully be able to hob-nob with the brewers to get some job leads. When I was at the Oregon Brewer's Fest last weekend, a writer for the brewing magazine I read said there are a lot of small farmhouse breweries that are on the verge of shutting down because they don't have a someone to continue the brewing. Apparently, the younger generation is not as interested in the actual brewing... RP to the rescue! At the very least, it gives me some hope.
Funny thing is, there's a Nike distribution center just outside Antwerp. So, it looks like I have my "plan B", something to tide me over while I keep knocking on the breweries' doors. Part of the Belgian red-tape is that I have three months to find a job and give proof of it to the "commune" we're living in so they can grant me permanent residency. Otherwise, they kick me out on the curb. Not worried about that though. I'm GOING TO find a job in a brewery anyway!
Well, that's it for now. Bed-time. Have to get up at 5am, before the sun gets up even. That ain't right!
--RP--
Friday, August 1
I'm wearing my new pair of Nikes. My brand new FREE pair of Nikes! Sweat-shop or not, this is a great company! They really take care of their employees.
So, I worked Monday thru Thursday at Nike. Basically, just a cog in the wheel, but the days go by really fast. On any given day, this center ships out 100,000 to 300,000 pairs of shoes a day. It supplies the entire country! How do I fit in? Well, this distribution center is a HUGE warehouse (725,000 sq. ft.) with 7.7 miles of conveyor belts and 223 employees. I work in a "small" section of the warehouse which is three levels filled with about 15 rows of shoe inventory racks and conveyor belts. The "pickers" work in the inventory rows, pulling shoes and putting them in various-size boxes. They then get placed on the conveyor belt to travel to the end of the row where the "carton sealers" (that's me!) check the contents for accuracy, stuff the boxes with paper for shipping, seal them up with tape and put them onto another conveyor belt that sends them out of our department and over to the shipping dock where they get loaded onto palettes and into trucks. I work on the third level. It gets pretty hot up there and we work so fast and relentlessly sometimes! As we speak, my sweat is being shipped all across the country. So, next time you buy a pair of Nikes, I want you to think of me because if you do it in the near future, there's a good chance that I had something to do with it! If you smell sweat, it's more likely from me than from the 8 year-old in Indonesia who assembled the shoe.
Nike Wilsonville Distribution Center fact: the shipping record is 3,768,813 pairs of shoes in July 1997!
It's kind of fun job. I don't mean fun fun, but it's nice to just slip into "the zone" and push yourself to the limits of your endurance. Tuesday and Wednesday were 15 hour days! So, we all went into overtime after 10 hours. And because we worked so hard, Nike rewarded us with a "Bonus Shoe-pick". After work, they marched us over to the shoe-pick cage so we could select a free pair of shoes from one of many huge boxes brimming with so much leather and insoles! We were all pretty psyched and are ready to come back for another heavy workload. Nike, if you keep showing me your gratitude like that, I'll keep sealing my sweat... er, your shoes up for as long as you want!
--RP--
So, I worked Monday thru Thursday at Nike. Basically, just a cog in the wheel, but the days go by really fast. On any given day, this center ships out 100,000 to 300,000 pairs of shoes a day. It supplies the entire country! How do I fit in? Well, this distribution center is a HUGE warehouse (725,000 sq. ft.) with 7.7 miles of conveyor belts and 223 employees. I work in a "small" section of the warehouse which is three levels filled with about 15 rows of shoe inventory racks and conveyor belts. The "pickers" work in the inventory rows, pulling shoes and putting them in various-size boxes. They then get placed on the conveyor belt to travel to the end of the row where the "carton sealers" (that's me!) check the contents for accuracy, stuff the boxes with paper for shipping, seal them up with tape and put them onto another conveyor belt that sends them out of our department and over to the shipping dock where they get loaded onto palettes and into trucks. I work on the third level. It gets pretty hot up there and we work so fast and relentlessly sometimes! As we speak, my sweat is being shipped all across the country. So, next time you buy a pair of Nikes, I want you to think of me because if you do it in the near future, there's a good chance that I had something to do with it! If you smell sweat, it's more likely from me than from the 8 year-old in Indonesia who assembled the shoe.
Nike Wilsonville Distribution Center fact: the shipping record is 3,768,813 pairs of shoes in July 1997!
It's kind of fun job. I don't mean fun fun, but it's nice to just slip into "the zone" and push yourself to the limits of your endurance. Tuesday and Wednesday were 15 hour days! So, we all went into overtime after 10 hours. And because we worked so hard, Nike rewarded us with a "Bonus Shoe-pick". After work, they marched us over to the shoe-pick cage so we could select a free pair of shoes from one of many huge boxes brimming with so much leather and insoles! We were all pretty psyched and are ready to come back for another heavy workload. Nike, if you keep showing me your gratitude like that, I'll keep sealing my sweat... er, your shoes up for as long as you want!
--RP--
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