dan hasn't updated the blog yet, that slacker!

So I guess it falls on me... :-)

Friday night we had Ashley and Ryan over for dinner and they brought cushions, which made the whole evening a lot more comfortable. We made stuffed peppers that turns out kind of dry and not very stuffed. We went out to the White Eagle (not the Eagle) for a couple of beers and the best fries in the world. Oh disappointment.. when the server brought the fries she asked "Are these alright?" That should have been our first clue. The portions were considerably smaller than the first time we ordered them, and the fries were a droopy greasy mess. Ryan thinks they had been re-fried. Dan ate them all, nonetheless. When the server came back, Dan politely asked why the fries were not as delicious as before. The server gave a cop-out answer about how the "potatoes are always different". Uh..what? Freshly cut, once fried by standard restaurant protocol russet potatoes should yield standard restaurant fries. Oregonian potatoes must be finicky. Anyway, it was a fun night with friends.......(and I am a food snob).

Our days have been spent job hunting mostly. It's pretty inactive. The bikes have not arrived yet.

We learned that our friends Manda and Billy had made it to Portland, so we invited them over for coffee before they left town. Billy got his first flat since Madison, WI on his way to our apartment! His valve stem had a mysterious crack in it, like in the metal part. Seeing our friends with all their gear made us realize how quickly we forget the day of the bicycle tourist! It took some time to fix the flat, and it was late, so Billy and Manda decided to just hang out that day, spend the night at our place and leave the next morning. We waited in a 20 minute line at VooDoo Donuts, which is a now-famous vegan and non-vegan punk donut hole-in-the-wall in downtown PDX. (There was a homeless man outside asking people for donuts. He said he preferred if people give him donuts rather than money because he didn't want to wait in line. He also does not accept pennies.)

We all went to see "The Invention of Lying" last night. It was the worst movie ever. The kind of movie that makes you embarrassed to be sitting there watching it. Oh Ricky Gervais, we thought you were funny..

One of the first things Dan & I did after we got our computer is watch season 6 of The Office (5 episodes so far). We'd been looking forward to this since Nebraska, where we saw a preview/commercial about the new season while watching tv at a Super 8 during our first hotel stay of the trip. My favorite line is where Creed says "If I can't SCUBA, then what's this all been about!!!?????!?!"

Manda & Billy left this morning, and I went off to a job interview. It's a customer service rep position with a women's cycling apparel retailer. I pretty much have all of the qualifications and experience for the job and I think I am a perfect candidate....but how many people just like me are competing for this job? I actually had fun writing the cover letter. I have many opinions about cycling apparel. Today the interview was with the staffing agency that interviews for companies. (I had no idea how that worked, so the interviewer explained it to me.. weird big city stuff). It went well, and I guess I find out soon if I get an interview with the president of the company. Fingers crossed! I did meet a friend at the interview while waiting--it was another girl interested in the job. She and her boyfriend just moved here from Minnesota and she likes biking (duh) so we are going to hang out. Dan counted the number of friends we have in PDX on TWO hands!

So, for the job interview I didn't own any business casual, so I went to the Nordstrom's down the street and asked the saleswoman to help me find business casual. She dressed me, and now I own business casual for whenever I need to pull it out. The outfit includes smart black slacks, black kitten heels, and a greyish short sleeved sweater. Sorry Rosalind, but I honestly did not have time to get creative or excited. Tomorrow I am going to another job interview which will also require business casual. I certainly hope that business casual does not become an everyday requirement.