MOVED!

I can't believe I managed it, but I got almost completely moved in to the new house in NE yesterday. I even got 2 free couches. I'd gotten my stuff into the house and set up my turntables. I was sitting down to call it a night and started surfing craigslist for furniture. I came across an ad for free couches right down the street from me so I called the number. As I pressed send the name Tom popped up on my phone. The couches were at HPR's house! I asked Tom to hold the couches for me 'til tomorrow and then he said, "well, we've got a crew over here just drinking, we could probably talk some people into carrying them over. I walked the 3 blocks to their house and everyone was taking shots of tequila. There was a punk passed out on one of the couches and a dog sleeping on the other. There were a few jokes about how the punk and the dog came with the couches. I wouldn't have minded, the house was kinda lonely last night. Anyway, 10 minutes after I called, we were carrying couches up burnside. Now the place feels like a home, and I got HPR's old couches which aren't nearly as gross as I thought they'd be. The best part about this house: NO MORE HIPPIES!

Finding housing in Portland is a nightmare. James and I have been mounting the most exhaustive apartment search known to man, going to neighborhoods and just walking down every street looking for apartment buildings and "for rent" signs. We've gotten really good at distinguishing between apartments, condos, and retirement/nursing homes from a distance. We're also getting pretty good at guessing the price. What we're not getting very good at is actually finding a place to live. Places that show up on craigslist are already taken by the time we see the post. Places that we're cold-calling aren't calling us back.

We'd been noticing around northwest that the majority of the buildings were owned by the same company with the phone number 242-4242. I'm pretty tired of the "two-fo" people as I now call them, because I know that they have no vacancies, but their buildings look so enticing until I get close enough to read the phone number and realize it's a waste of time. Today I hit a new low. I was calling a building on NW 18th and when I asked about a 2 bedroom apartment the guy just started laughing. After about 10 seconds of laughing he says,
"Do you get the joke?"
I said, "I think I'm beginning to, yes."
"There aren't many two bedrooms in northwest, but you might want to try this number. 503-242-4242."

Then I come home to look at craigslist again and when I take my computer out of my bag it's making horrible rattling sounds like the components have broken loose inside. I remembered last night running from Goose Hollow to Katie's apartment and realize that my computer is fucked. Just what I need. 300 more pages of The Pioneers to read, a final exam to write, a house to find, and my computer begins its death rattle.

So I ripped the motherfucker apart and fixed the damn thing.

Nothing feels quite as good as voiding your warranty.