Portland again

I am in Portland right now.  I was really hoping to have some (or at least one) interview on this trip, but that didn't happen.  I did meet two cool recruiters who have potential to be helpful in finding a job.  Since I knew I wasn't going to have an interview while I was on this trip I decided to change my focus to deciding whether or not I should move here without a job and to network.  I accomplished both of those goals.  The recruiters I met on Thursday is very down to earth and I asked her if she honestly thought it was harder to find a job from afar and she told me that yes it is because sometimes companies will ignore those candidates in favor of locals and even some people will ask that the candidate come in for an interview the same day they see the resume.  I had a suspicion on the first idea that they would be ignoring me, but the later never occurred to me.  

My original plan was to leave Austin when my lease is up at the end of May and then drive here and crash on two friends couches, but I also found out on this trip that both of those people will have other guests in early June, so if I am going to count on staying with them I will need to leave a bit earlier or later.  Earlier will work better since I would be couch surfing in Austin after end of May and I would rather do that with prospects of having my own place sooner than later and in a different city.   I have met several people in the hostels here who say that they are having a hard time finding roommates in the city.  A lot of people seem to be looking for like a week.  I would rather do that in a free place than a hostel.  One friend said that my kitty could stay at his place even if I don't.  So that is good for me and I am sure that will royally piss her off.  You do what you gotta do though.

Movie and Car

Last week my coop had a member party where they showed the movie "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" I loved it!!! It is an awesome story about a farmer named John who wasn't sure he really wanted to farm even though it was expected of him by his family. He became a hippy in the 60s and had a bit of a commune on his family farm. He evolved and changed and now has a successful CSA. Very thought provoking and inspiring.

My car had been having problems and since I will be moving across the country in the next two months I wanted to get something more reliable. I traded in my '95 Mazda 626 and got an '05 Honda Civic. It is cute and drives really nicely. I chose this car for practical reasons like reliability and efficiency (in gas usage). I hate white cars and I like manual transmissions much better than automatic, so it is neither white nor automatic. It is actually gray with black interior although I don't really care about that. I am glad that I will be taking it to a cooler state since black interior isn't pleasant in Texas. This was my first car to buy on loan and even though I was resistant to taking on this debt, it is totally manageable. I think it will serve me well for quite some time.