but all i hear are low sounds

It snowed last night. Apparently it all got dumped around 5AM because it definitely wasn't looking that way when I was out last night. So the first thing I did was drop everything, get around and go driving. I needed groceries at some point and I don't patronize the hippie mart because they don't carry things like pasteurized processed grape food. I also hurried to catch the heathen window when the few brave souls that were out would be at church. The roads were pretty treacherous - it just came down as light puffy snow but it just got mashed into the ground because Portland has almost no anti-snow infrastructure. I did make it to the grocery store in town and back in one piece. I had to drive quite slow but somehow was still passing Land Rovers. It's been a while since I drove on snow. It reminds me of home.

now all i hear is tearing of paper

Now that the futon situation is at least contained thanks to metal plates, my new domestic project is to spruce up my balcony. I didn't have a proper one in Corvallis so I'd like to make good use of this one now that the weather is getting nice. The biggest change I am trying to make is to use mosquito netting to screen it off (at least mostly) so I don't have to worry about bugs or leaves and seeds blowing in. This is actually a bigger challenge than it may sound. I have already been through two iterations and still have not found a suitable way to mount the nets. I was hoping to finish that tonight but I have to let my blokish ingenuity simmer on that one. Perhaps metal plates are involved.

everything looks perfect from far away

Well, that's it. I am in Lake Oswego and getting settled. My new apartment is pretty huge and is only a 10 minute non-highway drive from where I'll be doing my internship.

I got my DSL up and running yesterday after some confusion - Qwest actually turned my DSL on first thing in the morning, but botched the programming, so I thought they hadn't turned it on at all. After some slightly irate phone calls after 5 one guy was helpful enough to get the DSL people on the line and fix it.

I am still getting used to the area. If I didn't have my GPS I would probably die of starvation because I still don't know where most of the stores are. That thing has earned its keep several times over during the move. At least there are stores here.