Posts (page 2)

We've been living up in Portland now for almost a month and I wanted to record some of my first impressions:

- It is definitely cloudy, cool and rainy--and it's been this way most of the time since we've moved up.  In fact, on several mornings in June (including twice this week when it's been in the high fifties!)  I've fired up our fake--but very pleasing and surprisingly realistic-looking--electric "fireplace" to get some heat and light into our place.  Fortunately, we like this type of weather but we can see why sun-fanatics would not.  It's probably one of the key reasons Californians aren't storming north over the border to take advantage of the less expensive housing.

- It's whiter.  There is less diversity here and more white people than in either the SF Bay Area or Southern California.  I'd guess the percentage of caucasians here is about 85%.  (Or maybe the "people of color" just get bleached out with no sun?...)

- You can't pump your own gas.  That's right, you have to pull up and wait at the pump for someone to come by and do it for you.  I believe the rationale is to preserve jobs.  At first we didn't like it, but now we like just kicking back and letting them take care of it.

- No sales tax.  Whatever you buy, it's exactly that amount when you check out at the cashier.  This is definitely a bonus when you buy bigger ticket items (e.g. a car).

- People are very friendly.  Ivy and I have both noticed that the vast majority of people are very nice in a small-town kind of way. We think this has something to do with the smaller scale of everything compared to California.

- The city and surrounding suburbs are very well-planned.  Ivy and I are able to walk to a grocery store, post office and a bunch of shops and restaurants from our condo.  The variety and quality of shops, along with freeway access and public transportation are all great.  We're within a five minute drive of three different supermarkets and we're able to choose from four different gyms within a five mile radius (we just joined LA Fitness yesterday).  It only takes us fifteen minutes to get from our condo over the hill down into the heart of Portland.  Buying a condo with similar proximity to San Francisco would be three to four times more expensive.

- A "different vibe".  In many ways, it feels like we're living up in Canada or even Scandinavia.  The architecture, the emphasis on eco-friendly living and getting outdoors, along with a vibrant art, music, pub and coffeehouse scene gives a somewhat "Euro" feel.  We like it a lot and are glad to be here.

Ivy's company flew her down to San Diego for a couple days of training last week.  She was lucky to be able to stay with our good friends Nate and Patricia for two nights and see their kids and some lovely San Diego sights.  We're hoping to make an appearance there again--both of us!--in the not so distant future.

Challenges abound in everyone's lives but Ivy and I have been really moved by what a young couple in our extended family has been going through here in Portland.  I mentioned earlier about how a young mother with a two year old at home--who is also five months pregnant--has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and doesn't have much time.  We were able to talk with them a bit a few days before Jesse's wedding at a family gathering.  This young woman has amazing courage and class.  Ivy and I were basically moved to tears as she was sincerely asking us how we were doing and what we were planning on doing over the weekend.  We held it together while we were with her but it was tough.  She is living life to the full as best she can and has many close family--and her two year old daughter--close by.

One other thing I wanted to mention was how I actually was impacted by the washer repairman who came by our place last week.  He was a very kind, dignified, good-looking guy--he looked like a German banker with his glasses-- who was rather serious in his demeanor and also about his work.  When he finished and started explaining to me what he did to fix our machine, you could tell he had to work really hard to find the words.  I was struck by the fact that what is effortless for many people was very hard work for him.  Basically, I think he just wasn't born with the "computational power" that many other--luckier--people are.  I believe this guy would have been a "professional" (banker, businessman, etc) if he could have.  But you can tell that he has made the most of his situation and is very dignified nonetheless and takes great pride in his work.

Since this blog is a repository for good memories, I'm going to add in here the toast I gave to my good friend Jesse this past Saturday at his wedding.  I had a lot of fun putting it together and got good feedback from his friends and family.  It definitely was satisfying to see it come together and be received well.

"Jesse's Three Qualities that Made Him a Bad Roommate, But Will Make Him a Great Husband"

First, Jesse is a true Renaissance Man.  And I'm not using that term lightly.  The range of his skills, talents and hobbies is simply amazing.  Of course, the best part about being a Renaissance Man is that women love you.  Unfortunately, there are some serious drawbacks when you're one of the roommates of the Renaissance Man.  You end up looking a little bland and boring. 

To show you what we had to compete with, here's just a brief sampling of what Jesse's afternoon might look like.  He'd return home from school where he was studying both plant biology and history.  He'd pull up in a Toyota Land Cruiser which contained an engine he had rebuilt by hand himself.  He'd then go on a 15 mile run.  Returning home, he'd work in his bonsai garden in the backyard and then put on some opera music and cook up an amazing gourmet meal.  He'd then head over to band practice--where he played the bass.  In the evening, he'd then do some pleasure-reading which always of course involved classic literature.  The year I lived with him, he not only finished off the complete works of Solzhenitsyn, but he also knocked out the major works of Tolstoy.  This was a tough act to follow.  However, Jamie, you will never be bored together with this guy in the decades to come.

Second, Jesse has a razor-sharp mind and a near-photographic memory.  For the most part, he used his God-given gifts for good--graduating summa cum laude, becoming a doctor.  But he also used his powerful brain to unfair advantage.  Whenever he'd talk with attractive young women at church or at school, he'd be able to store away the details of whatever it was they were telling him.  And then a couple weeks later when he'd run into them again, he'd be able to ask, "So, Suzie, Cindy, etc. how did your midterm go last Thursday at 2.30pm with Professor Snitzer?  Is your cat Fluffy doing better after her vet appointment yesterday?"  The girls loved this, but we roommates simply couldn't compete.  Jamie, however, will definitely benefit with this because you can just tell Jesse:  "Pick up these 20 items from the store" and if he focuses a bit, you'll be set.

Finally, the third quality that made Jesse a bad roommate but which will make him a great husband, is the fact that he is a very selfless and generous guy.  On many, many occasions when the dishes were piling up and none of the other four roommates were doing anything about it--Jesse always would step in and take care of it.  The same thing would happen with the trash: a bunch of bags would build up and then Jesse would take them out.  He also--on so many occasions--would serve us up the excellent meals he had cooked, and they were always infinitely better than what we were eating.  The downside of all this was that we always felt guilty (even though Jesse didn't intend us to).  But the huge upside for Jamie was that she'll be able to enjoy a servant-hearted man around the house--and many great meals--for decades to come.

Congratulations...

We've moved into our place here in Portland and are really liking it.  We seem to always forget how exhausting it is to move but we're glad to be done with it--and hopefully for a LONG time.  We made a bunch of trips to Ikea, got ourselves a couch, table, bookcase and chairs and had good luck with a number of items off of Craigslist too. 

In fact, we found our new used car via Craiglist and are now the proud owners of a 2004 black Jetta.  I've thought of the Jetta as a "chick car" for years, but have overcome that and really dig its excellent handling, acceleration and gas mileage.  We made sure to buy a manual/stick shift to keep ourselves well-practiced for Europe.

This past weekend was Ivy's birthday and we had a great time spending it in the San Francisco bay area at a good friend's wedding and visiting with my sister Laurel in SF.  Jesse and Jamie got married at the Fogarty winery and I had the privilege of being the best man and toasting/roasting Jesse.  They're a wonderful couple (super smart--both UCSF doctors--and lots of fun) and Ivy and I look forward to spending lots of time with them in the decades ahead.  Cool fact about Jamie's dad:  he was an astronaut who traveled on the space shuttle.  Cool fact about Jamie: she lived in Hong Kong for high school when her dad took a job overseas.  I'm going to paste in some pictures here--including one of Jesse's parents: the most stylish couple ever.  Imagine morphing the Beckhams and the Berlusconis and you get Dan and LiseAnne Shurter.

The weekend prior to that, we had a great time hearing Obama speak in Portland's Waterfront Park.  It was truly a spectacular setting and it was packed--over 75,000 leftists, radicals, and granola-crunching revolutionaries, just like Ivy and me.  Here's some youtube footage on it.

We've spent the last week with my parents at their place near Sacramento.  We're packing up a bunch of things we've stored at their house this past year and are going to be loading up a Uhaul truck tomorrow.  On Monday we drive up to Portland and are really looking forward to seeing my sister, brother in law and their kids and setting up our condo.  We've found a number of great furniture items on Craiglist and will really be set without spending much money at all.

I saw the very fun and well-done Iron Man movie last night with my younger brother Matthew.  Ivy and I rented and watched "The Kingdom" a few nights ago via itunes and liked this a lot too.  (It's about an FBI investigation of a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia.  Good, thought-provoking message--especially at the end after all the action.)  Ivy and I really love movies.

Over the next two months I have the honor of being in two weddings for good friends Jesse and Stacey.  (Strangely enough, both of these guys have unisex names...)   Jesse's wedding is in the San Francisco Bay Area and Stacey's is in North Carolina.

Pacific Northwest here we come. 

Yesterday we heard some terrible news.  Tragedy struck our extended family up in Portland and our hearts go out to the immediate family that have to endure what is unimaginably horrible.  A healthy, beautiful young mother of 35 with a two year old at home and who is five months pregnant has been diagnosed--out of the blue--with terminal cancer.  We're praying for them and this has opened our eyes up to genuine suffering and the beauty and brevity of life.

A week ago Ivy and I went hiking up in some hills just outside of Budapest.  We always have good conversations when we go on a long walk or hike though quite often I'm constantly posing questions.  Sometimes I probably should give her a break.  A sampling from last Saturday:

"So when did you first start liking me?"
Answer: "Well...I can't remember not liking you."

"Do you think there are aliens creatures out there in space?"
Answer: "Hmmm.  Maybe there are other worlds filled with humans, rather than weird creatures."
Me: "Very interesting--I like that."

"Under the Frog" is the name of a powerful book Agi and I both just read.  The cover describes it as a "black comedy."  The author (Tibor Fischer) was born in Britain to Hungarian parents who escaped from the Russians in the big Hungarian Revolution of 1956.  He's essentially a British guy but did live in Budapest for two years as a journalist right before the Wall fell and published this book three years later.

He's also one of the most talented writers I've ever read and you could say his sense of humor is devastating--kind of like Kurt Vonnegut.  Agi heard me laughing out loud all the time as I went through it.  I probably wouldn't have loved the book as much if I hadn't lived here but I'd recommend it nonetheless.  It was shortlisted for the Man-Booker prize (the top British and Commonwealth book) back in 1993.

It's pretty amazing in my opinion to be able to call the US from Europe so cheaply with skype.  Inexpensive phone calls, along with the unprecedented scope & power of the internet, are helping us big-time with our efforts to live internationally.

In the last few days from here in Budapest we:  reserved a rental car, found a good dentist in Portland and set up an appointment, reserved a Uhaul truck, called Tech Support for our website a couple times and of course emailed friends and family.  Also, Agi's boss simply calls her on the "skype in" number we've set up (a Portland number that is forwarded to her cell phone here) when they need to talk.  Overall, the sound quality is pretty good with skype.

Something else that I recently signed up for--and am excited about--is "Earth Class Mail."  It's basically a high-tech address and mailbox, perfect for Agi and me.  We've been having my wonderful parents and sister check our mail when it comes in.  This is kind of cumbersome for them and we can't see the important mail ourselves (e.g. those nasty tax forms).  With this new "Earth Class Mail" service, all our mail is now being sent to an address in Oregon and it's scanned for us.  I can now view it all online, have it recycled or shredded or forwarded if necessary.  The founders of the company are robotics experts so that explains how they do it efficiently.

Finally, I read last week on the BBC website about "The Grid."  I hadn't heard of this before--it's basically a bunch of high-powered computers connected with fiber-optic cables that is much faster than the internet.  Apparently The Grid may one day actually replace the internet.  Scientists at universities are already using it a lot.  The article said it takes 1.5 seconds to download a movie over The Grid.  Amazing.