Bloggy

I have started looking at nursing schools I want to get into, and finding that so are 800 other qualified people in Portland. I knew that though. What I didn't realize is that applying for nursing school could potentially be a full-time job. I've done all the pre-requisites, the anatomy, chemistry, whatever. But, it's not good enough. Nursing schools don't have enough room for all of us and they've had to come up with deterrents to keep students away. There's too many of us, and it's driving them mad. I went to the advising office of Mount Hood Community College the other day and overheard a counselor telling a student in a rather condescending tone, "You want to do nursing? You and everybody else." I called the college the next day for a question, and guess who I got on the phone? ME: "Yeah, hi, I have a question about the nursing pre-req's..." Guy: "Oh, you and everybody else..." Besides all the regular core classes you...

It snowed today and I am the most excited person here, I think. I really like this wintry feeling! No more ambiguous seasons, this winter is telling us it's here! I have had the same big winter jacket for the past 5 years are so, and I have already gotten more use out of it in the past month than I did when it lived with me in Huntington Beach, San Francsico, and Napa. Ha! But, tomorrow my class might be cancelled because of "inclement weather" which is really wimpy because the snow didn't even accumulate on the streets, and where it did accumulate, it melted 20 minutes after it landed. Oh well... time to crank up the heater and make some tea! p.s. I lifted this picture from the oregon live website, it's not mine. Check out www.oregonlive.com for more, or search for me to see my new stories!

I guess it's a little better than the first one, but I am still feeling reluctant to post either one. Then again, who cares? I had a blast! And it shows!

So this must have been taken on someone's cell phone camera or something... the quality is pretty bad. But, this video somehow showed up on You Tube fore all to see! It's me, hooping at my 10 year high school reunion with none other than ... Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite's twin brother, Carlos! We were having a dance/hoop-off, and it was toward the end of the night. It's obvious I am tired and slow, we rocked much harder earlier in the night. Oh well, this is what we have until the *REAL* video comes out sometime in the future... also, Part II is still on You Tube, under Napa High Reunion, but I warn you it's no better than this one!

This guy is totally hard core~ makes you want to go play in the waves, no?

I also wanted to mention that the company that makes the compostable "plastic"ware is called Cereplast, and they are out of Hawthorne, California. They are at www.cereplast.com. They are a publicly traded company, and unfortunately not doing so hot. The quote is about .50, down from $1.50 or so about a year ago. I can't tell if it's bad business or if its just not producing much, but I hope they will be around long enough for this stuff to really catch on.

Yesterday's elephant manure tour was followed by today's compost dumpster dive at a fancy downtown building. It's amazing what goes on in this city. It seems like so many people are on board with the whole recycling/sustainability/eco-whatever thing. It's really quite cool. Yesterday I was so proud to bring Brandon home a souveneir from the zoo. He was hoping for a giraffe sponge or something, but I brought him a clear cup and a knife--both made out of corn and/or potato starch. Amazing! They look and feel heavier than the cheap-o plastic that's normally available, and they are completely compostable...meaning, that within a certian amount of time, in a properly managed compost heap (probably not your backyard compost pile, but in a commercial one) they'll turn into plain old starch, and be nutritious for plants. How brilliant is that? The cutlery is green, and the knife would probably draw blood if you used it like a little saw. The cup is clear plastic, and it...

So our skills aren't worthless. That's too harsh. They just aren't highy saught after at this particular moment. But you know what I got to do today? I got to feed an elephant, and I learned how to compost using its manure. How many nurses get to say that? It was for a story I am doing on the zoo, and actually, I've become fascinated with feces lately... It started with a dog park story I did about how dog poo is wrecking the grass in this fancy park across the street. Then I followed up on a man who works as a pooper scooper (he's got his own business!) and wants to educate the public about health and environmental hazards of pet waste. Then I met a woman who uses Humanure to compost with and has the most amazing garden I've ever seen, right here in the city. Then onto the zoo... and later this week I'll be watching how businesses in town compost their food waste. There's a program set up where the garbage service collects it and ships it to somewhere o...

Woah. Mid-life crises continued! I had a really interesting talk with my friend who's thinking of returning to school. For nursing. She got a degree in film from a prestigious school and has since watched jobs evaporate after reality tv took over. She told me about her peers who at one time looked like they had it all in Hollywood, and are now left competing for jobs with the likes of her! She's on her way to UCLA's info session on nursing, and is taking 2 friends with her, also considering going back to school for the same reasons. I vocalized the similarities in my field, for the first time out loud to her. And it's scary. Newspapers are cutting jobs left and right. My newspaper had a hiring freeze. Everyone's moving online, but the online stuff isn't making much money yet. One website I applied for collapsed before I even completed an assignment. Another hasn't changed its content in a month. We both have skills that are totally worthless... And it feels...

Well, as you may have guessed, I didn't qualify for my $210,000 fixer-upper. No surprise there. But it was eye opening in a couple of ways. First, I really have to work on myself. Loan officers don't take into account "happiness" as a form of payment, or guarantee that they will make their money back. Nor do they take into account potential. It's all about right here, right now, and according to my paystubs since May, I make about $400 a month. Hmm. So, my choices were to... 1. Get a job in journalism, making similar to what I made at my previous job, and within 30 days I could qualify for a loan. 2. Wait 6 mos. to 1 year to 2 years for my freelance to take off, at which point my self-employment may actually be working. 3. Get a cosigner, someone who, say, just paid off their last house mortgage payment last month. Well, none of these sound really feasible right now. The journalism job market in Portland is still non existant. And it's worse in Hood River or S...

Today at 5, B and I will meet with a loan officer to determine how much we can afford for a house. Shocking! I know! But we're looking at it as more of a long-term investment in income property, rather than jumping into a home owner partnership right now. And, I'm betting that based on our lack of savings, lack of income, credit card debt and six months of travel earlier this year, that Discovery Savings won't lend us the money for tonight's chicken burrito, much less a fixer-upper in Stevenson. Nonetheless, we're armed with our W-2's, and we're gonna go see what it will take. Wish us luck!

No, not my dream about pink scooters last night, I have no idea what the heck that meant. But real dreams. At age 28, one month after my 10 year high school reunion I have realized just what a badass I am. I've accomplished most of what I set out to in my short little life. What this means is far more important than bragging rights--it means that I can accomplish whatever goals I set for myself next. Let's take a look: -Travel. Somewhere along the lines I decided I wanted to travel. I feel that urge constantly (and am currently dreaming of a trip back to Baja and to Central America) but I've done pretty good so far. Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and 20 countries in Europe. That list is a lot longer than many people's twice my age! -Foreign language. In high school I started learning Spanish and got hooked. It's been a lifelong goal but after 10 years, holy shit, I speak Spanish. When did that happen? -College. So it took 7 years. But I got a d...

A couple of my closest friends are going through what I recognize as a mid-life crisis, only they are in their late 20s. One might go back to school. Another is doing the opposite, considering giving up her huge income to do something for the love of it. Two months ago I was convinced I wanted to be a nurse. We haven't really figured out why we're so all over the place. Why weren't we able to make our first careers work for us? Are we giving up too soon? What are we searching for? Shouldn't we just be able to choose something and make it work? Isn't that what we were taught in school? We can do anything we put our minds to, right? Nowadays, reality should probably be addressed in school like this: You can probably do some of what you really want to do maybe , if you're willing to sacrifice money, stability, health care... or, if you're extremely lucky, or born rich. Actually, you should just be a nurse. We've got to prepare ourselves for retirement, and...

This weekend B and I dreamed about the future, fueled by thoughts of living off the grid, and how possible it really is. We drove out to Stevenson, Washington and passed a $210,000 fixer upper. We turned around and passed it 3 more times, then knocked on the door, twice. Stevenson is a kiteboarding paradise, and, I think, the next Tahoe. Which is kind of a shame, but I remember going up to Tahoe with friends even before I could drive. Then, you could buy a cabin for around $60,000, on one side of the lake. South shore was built up, as was Incline Village, but no one wanted to drive around to the west shore. That was way out of the way! Nowadays, you can't find much under $300,000. The Columbia River Gorge is similar in beauty. Hood River is already overpriced and full of trust fund babies living out their wet dreams in the shadows of Mount Hood and the windiest part of the river. But--Stevenson is closer to Portland. It's got a great kite launch area, too, with 1/20 the crowd...

It's raining outside. It's so windy all the mushy wet leaves are swirling around all over the place. I got tired of staring at my cat and waiting for the phone to ring so I came down the street to the coffee shop. I love this town! It's this quaint little shop with just me and 30 or so people stripped down to our lower layers cuz it's 80 degrees in here. I think you can tell a lot about a town from where its people get their caffeine fix. Here in P-town, the people are all different ages, but mostly white hipsters. It's a different atmosphere than the Bay Area-- in Berkeley, coffee shops are filled with students and wannabe students. Everyone carries a backpack and meets up with a handful of others to for study groups. In San Francisco, depending on the area, they can be full of businesspeople hacking away at Blackberries, or the perfect spot for job interviews for the retail shops around Union. In Napa, there's only chain coffee shops with their upright chai...