Moving

For those of you who want to know... our new address is:

4635 SW Mueller Drive, Apt E301

Beaverton, OR 97007

We'll be at that address as of next Saturday, June 27th. For the time being we'll have the same phone numbers... at some point in the future we'll be changing those to Portland area numbers. We'll keep you posted!

Across the nation

I once heard of a book written by the members of the band Franz Ferdinand, the whole point of the book was the good, the bad, and the weird of food they encountered while on tour.
As you all know, we've done some extensive traveling since moving away from Omaha. It's been brought to my attention that I could start a similar memoir, if slightly more specialized. The title of my travel/food commentary: "Orange chicken and white mochas across the US."

Orange Chicken:
-Mings Star in Omaha
-Golden Dragon in Carson City
-Oak Tree Inn in LA
-Place I can't remember the name of on the edge of Seattle
-Twin Wok in Ely

White Mocha:
-Starbucks
-Coal Creek Coffee Company
-Carmel Valley Coffee Company
-Peets Coffee
-Tully's Coffee
-Black Bear Coffee House
-Jolts & Juice
-Ava Roasterie

Hmm, I am a creature of habit. But, to be fair, have you had these things? They're delicious and (this is probably why I consistently order them in any Chinese restaurant or coffee place) HARD TO MESS UP!
Click here for the real book

Coming Together...

So... everything looks like it's coming together... way too many details to figure out... and with all those details there's way too much money to pay... but it looks like it's all fitting together. The frustrating apartment situation Cori mentioned in the last blog has worked out ok. We were getting ready to go ahead with all the plans to store things and stay with family for 2 weeks... when another unit miraculously opened up that we can move into on the 27th. So now in the last two days we've had the mad rush of getting all the many things in to the apartments that are necessary to be approved. The leasing agent did all the different steps on her end to get us approved... so at around 5:30 last night we got the call that we do in fact have an apartment to move into. Sweet two bedroom apartment (way bigger than our last little place) with all kinds of cool stuff like a fireplace in the living room, work out facilities so we don't have to get a gym membership, an indoor pool so we can swim year round, and a walking trail that we've been told is somewhere behind the apartment complex... we'll have to go exploring for that. The apartment is about 15-20 minutes from the store I'll be working at, and is located in a good location to give Cori lots of opportunities to find jobs.

We've finished with all the reservations we've needed to make... plane tickets to fly me back to Omaha, truck rental so I can drive our stuff from Omaha to Portland, hotel reservations along the way... all those good things. Last night I had lots of fun (sarcasm) setting up all the things like renters insurance, electric, cable and internet... and we're just waiting to hear back from a couple of those with confirmations. Once we get those I think all we've got left is printing all of our many confirmations, reservations, maps and whatnot. Then we get to pack up our carload of stuff again and be ready to head out. We'll keep you posted on all the good stuff (hopefully that rather than bad stuff) as it comes. You should come see us in Portland!

details a.k.a. what fresh hell is this?

Well, Adam and I are working on our list of things that have to happen in order to move to Beaverton. We thought we'd had an apartment all picked out and were trying to negotiate a move in earlier than their posted July 3rd availability. Turns out that July 3rd is when the current tenants lease is up, with cleaning and turn around processing, we couldn't take possession until July 13. Which means that we'll either have to start our apartment search over or "make do" for the two weeks lapsing between when Adam starts work and when we could officially move into our own apartment. Dad's Uncle Jim and Aunt Gail live in Beaverton and have offered to let us stay with them, which would be a huge financial relief, but also brings up questions about whether to pay for another month on the Omaha storage unity and have Mom & Dad help me move everything in July, or have Adam fly back to move everything out next week and get another storage unit in Beaverton. Situations like this frustrate the crap out of me because there are way too many variables. If this happens we should do that; if it's ready this day, we follow that plan; if you stay here, I do the moving..... On and on, way too many options and different plans. While we're both rejoicing that there's a desitination and a vocation in sight, along with the relief comes a whole new spectrum of detritus.
I'm thinking about becoming a nanny. I'd seen one posting on craigslist.com for a summer nanny, two kids ages 6 & 8 who love to do crafts, go to the zoo, swimming, etc. I COULD TOTALLY DO THAT! I'm great with kids, I have a decent driving record, I'm CPR certified (what parent isn't gonna love that?!). Unfortunately, I don't think I'll find anything like that by the time we get out there, no one needs a summer nanny who starts half-way through the summer. But it's a great idea to keep in mind for the future.
Anyway, it's late, and Adam and I are going to enjoy a celebratory blueberry wine that Mom picked up for us in BC. Christian out.

Portland Part 2

Fantastic news today. Over the last week I've been talking with the manager of a Starbucks in the Portland area, and today he offered me a position at his store as a Shift Supervisor. Taking a step backwards into a supervisor position wasn't my ideal plan... but getting into the company takes care of the immediate need to have a job, and the long term goal of being able to move up from within the company. Portland should be a great location for that. I'm supposed to be starting the week of June 29th, which gives us just over two weeks to arrange for an apartment and take care of all the many details that come with moving accross the country. Starting Monday we'll have the mad rush to make all the details fit together. Once we're there and get back to caffeinating people, we'll be looking at job options for Cori. If you're in the Portland area any time after 2 weeks from now, look us up!