FULLERTON

I've been doing research for a professor writing an architectural history of Oregon. I've been giving the task of researching all of Wallowa County. This means two things: 1) Ryan and i get to take a road-trip out to the furthest, wild, reaches of Oregon again! and 2) I have to spend hours and hours reading old newspapers, looking through archives and diaries and listening to (and in some cases recording) oral histories. It's been fun if not a bit tedious. Today i read about 80 years worth of old newspapers. I didn't find a lot of great information for my research but I did find all manner of wacky and weird and otherwise interesting shit.

A few random choices:



Here we have one man looking at another man's crotch while he says "aren't you a nice little optimist.", proving that gay men were just as catty 100 years ago.

More after the cut:

A photo I found of Signal Hill, California in 1923.

Thats right. No one in history pre-dated Jesus, not the Romans or the Greeks or the Mesopotamians. No one! Certainly not... Joseph and Mary even. Nope not a single person.

archive.org is addictive.



I wish I wish i hadn't discovered it right before finals.

From Thanksgiving ...

I was fairly certain i was going to have the worst Thanksgiving of my life. I managed to salvage it though and have a pretty decent day. For documentation and narrative, follow the link below.

( Read more... )

The public radio in Eugene is terrible. One of the first things I began to miss about Portland was the familiar stable of NPR news-radio and talk shows that I joined with throughout the day back at home. Most of all I missed "The World" by PRI and listening to BBC in bed. A nightly ritual for me and Scott.

Eugene's NPR station, as anyone familiar with Eugene would expect is a whole lot of hippie nonsense. They have a few of the flagship NPR shows I missed but mostly it is terrible music and shows about the healing properties of touch and love.

I was more distraught about this then the situation probably deserved but, as a veteran of many larger moves, I understand it's the little things that help you adjust.

Luckily, I've found KVRM (I think) an AM radio also called Jefferson public radio (from the state of Jefferson) they have more but not all of my favorite shows and they're on at reasonable hours. They even have BBC at through the night. Sleeping has become a lot easier since I discovered the station.

In the morning they have a show called "The Exchange" hosted by a stuffing sounding British man named James. He is a brilliant presenter, in the mold of the BBC hosts I listen to every night. I've grown to really love the show. Each morning he picks some issues, local Southern Oregon ones usually and attempts to hold a discussion with his caller. Unfortunately, most of the callers are from Ashland another insignificant, hippie-laden, self-involved town. So the discussion can begin to crack at the seams from time to time but James always sweeps in with pointed questions and good commentary. He usually takes up the task of socratically helping the callers articulate their own views. "So would you say X?" He will ask? The callers will consider and say "um maybe...." James will then respond with the conceivable ramifications and intellectual pitfalls of their views. Sometimes this enrages the callers usually it dumbfounds them. He reminds me of a Philosophy 101 professor.

His best work is his interviews. I can tell James relishes the opportunity to probe and challenge his guests. His interview of John Frohnmayer, independent candidate for Senate here in Oregon was a great example. He challenged Frohnmayer repeatedly and Frohnmayer, a professor and constitutional lawyer was up to the task. It was a great interview. The discourse was well above most of whats on public radio in these two cities. Which is unfortunate since both places pride themselves on community involvement.

Unfortunately, poor James, stuck in Ashland often doesn't have access to good interviewees. He often finds himself stuck with the kind of guests Eugene and Ashland listeners appreciate. A few days ago he spoke with a reiki expert. Today's interview is with the Author of Writing into your Mythic-Self about the spiritual connections and "hero journeys" horses bring about. At the moment she is explaining how if we all had horses it would end all war.

James is a pro though in both cases he politely (though occasionally snarkily) prods his wackier guests to explain their ideas and with this guest he has actually explore their ideas in a conventional way. Several times in this interview with the horse lady she has sad "wow, that is a really perceptive point, I never thought about that" It turns out her love of horses is connected to a quiver of issues with her father. A more interesting issue I am hoping James explores some more.

I love James. I've gotten to the point where I look forward to hearing the exchange when I wake up every morning. It's almost like I get the BBC world service that I love through the night and into the morning. Almost.

VoicePost 368K 1:50

(no transcription available)

The angry screed above was recorded after receiving and following up on the message posted below this text. I received this voice-mail in response to a very detailed 3 minute message detailing my situation and asking for a simple yes or no response. I became angry when the person I talked to interrupted me several times while i tried to explain my situation and then when i stopped said I expected her to be a mind reader. I proceeded to make her curse at me and cry. I do not feel sorry about it at all.

Why yes John, it does work and quite well I may add.

I recently got a  invite to the beta (of course) of GrandCentral. If you have heard of this service and it sounds interesting or if you lick on the link and think it might be something you'd like then let me know. I have some invites of my own to spend.

Why is school good for me again?

I took, and bombed a test today. I got nervous which makes reading that much more difficult. i sounded out the words and crapped a pile of nonsense onto the page of a "greenbook."

I left feeling defeated and bitter. If I don't do exceptionally well these last two years all my academic plans are pretty much a pipe dream.

I spent a significant portion of the last 6 years trying to get to school. I am here now and feel constantly a step short on the bureaucratic necessities of the place and often even the academic tasks.

When I was 15 my stepmother, somewhat condescendingly told me "school's not for everyone." I used that to motivate myself to eventually go to school. I realize the truth of the matter now. It isn't for everyone. It is tedious, expensive and stressful. It is an industry, perpetuated by self-serving, carbon-wastrels and an unrealistic, commodified idea of achievement. If I hadn't wasted nearly 10 grand on this venture already I would contemplate quitting. As it stands, I will accept what I've gotten myself into and try and bear it. My future feels black and open again though. I know failing here won't kill me but I have a lingering wish that it would.

All I want is to be useful. I wish I had spent more of the last six years contemplating how to achieve that.

On a plane headed to Kansas city.

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http://www.jott.com/Show.aspx?id=f765cd06-9a38-47ee-96d0-aba9559e1b20r

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I am lying on my bed about to go to sleep. I am using Jott to write this post. That is the only reason I am posting that and because I am lazy as evidenced by the fact that I did nothing today. I go to Canvas city in a week, that should be fun.


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I am sitting in the Library here at U of O, in between tasks for the day. So far, everything s going exceedingly well. This should be fun.

I got back from day two of the road-trip yesterday. The pictures are below. I will caption them shortly. Probably sometime tonight after I unpack.



Day Two Highlights:

Seeing Wild Antelope (The day before we saw a herd of Wild Elk,just as cool)
Santiago Calatrava's Sundial Bridge

I am in Eureka, California. Starting day 2 of our trek through Oregon and California. It is too early to write and I am too sleepy so... here are the pictures from day 1. We started at Scott's house, to 99W to Lincoln city and went straight down the coast about 500 miles.

Pre-Eugene Roadtrip

In 20 minutes I will no longer work at the Park Lane Suites.  The amount of crazy in my life will soon drop exponentially.

It's trying to stick around though.  Yesterday a woman in 511 nearly electrocuted herself trying to change the socket plates in her room.  She wanted to make it homey.  She was staying for 4 nights.

Just last week an episode of Cops was filmed at our sister property across the street and my boss was nearly shot to death by a police officer.

What will I do without you PLS?


It seems like only yesterday.  Actually, no, it does seem like three years.  Maybe even a little longer.

I am sleepy.

I am a bunch of other things, excited, anxious, happy, sad, but mostly I am just sleepy. I had a restless night last night. My mind was racing, trying to think what all i needed to do before I officially make the move to Eugene. I can't believe tomorrow is my last day in Portland.

I am of course sad about leaving Scott. I know I will miss him a lot but I am not moving to Ecuador. I will be only two easy hours away down I-5. We will visit each other and come December I plan on being back up in Portland for a month. I keep telling myself and will begin to tell Scott that this is like a really long vacation. It could even be to our benefit. That said, I am glad he is coming down to visit on the first day of school. So, when I leave tomorrow it'll only be about a week until I see him again. A week isn't that long at all. It is a good thing too because I am probably leaving pretty early Monday morning.

Sunday is my last day in Portland but Monday will not be my first day in Eugene. My (former but honorarily-for-life) roommate Ryan and i have decided to go on one last pointless meandering road-trip. We were kind of planning on going on one last big ginormous trip around the country but my better sense (or lack of money) kicked in and I had to trim it to an overnighter. As with all of our trips we don't have a perfectly concrete idea of where we're headed. We know we will probably head west to Lincoln City, Oregon and then drive down the coast to Crescent city, California. That is a lot of twisty coastal driving but afterward Ryan will have driven every inch on Highway 101. After that perhaps on to Eureka, I hear it is nice there and then through the Redwoods and over the Siskyous past Redding (of the In-n-Out trip fame) to somewhere. Probably the little town of Alturas in California's least populous county and then up though Oregon's most remote county and onto Crater Lake via Klamath Falls. Then from Crater Lake over the cascade forests and into Eugene where Ryan will drop me off at my new place. At that point, hoarse from singing along to the radio and exhausted from 1,300 of riding in a car I will sleep soundly before my first day in my new town. I may silently pray that Ryan makes it the extra 120 miles back to Portland safely. That is a lot of driving to do in two days.

Our route could be roughly similar to this:


View Larger Map


Who knows though... we don't even know.


It'll be nice to have a buffer between life-in-Portland and life-in-Eugene. The change will seem less abrupt and hopefully it will be a nice vacation before I am forced to put my nose to the grindstone in Eugene. I have bureaucratic and academic crap to do every single day before school starts. Hopefully, I can fit it all in. I have scheduled the next couple of weeks on my calendar in detail, something I hope to keep up with.

Well, I should go back to wasting time here on my second to last day at work. I hope you're all doing well and I miss you!

Oh!... I almost forgot. I turned 26 a few days ago. Scott and I celebrated by going hiking in Oregon's newest state park and having burgers out in the country with friends. Photographic evidence can be seen here. Scott also bought me the following lamp and sweatshirt (it's pink on the inside) both of which I love.

--This post is from my family blog. One day, if I ever feel motivated I may write an actual LJ post. Until then it is all family blog.

Hello Family... and some friends.

It has been awhile since I've posted or at least it feels like it's been awhile.

A lot has happened. I have just about everything setup for my arrival in Eugene. I finally got over my disappointment in not getting one of the university owned houses. Scott and I took a trip down to Eugene too look for places and after several hours holding in vomit, looking at one disgusting crap-hole after another I found a decent (albeit) tiny little studio out in the country outside of Eugene. I almost didn't follow up on it. I assumed it was too far from campus to be workable. But, since everything else I saw was putrid and it was across the street from the former home of one of my favorite senator's (Wayne Morse) I decided to give it a shot. I think it's going to be perfect. I will send y'all my address in a few days.

Thanks to Dad, Kathy and Matt I'm all moved in too!

I meant to take pictures of all of us moving but I got caught up in getting things loaded and unloaded. So my pictures are from after the fam all left. It is a shame. Little Savannah, who also helped, is looking awfully cute these days.

After moving my stuff in Scott and I drove around Eugene to what will be my new grocery store. It is amazingly nice! I love it. We also checked out my new laundromat and drove around in the country near my new place. It was beautiful. Sadly, all I have pictures of are the apartment, grocery store and laundry.

New Apartment in Eugene

So, I'm pretty much done moving except for moving myself down there which will be done sometime after the sixteenth of September. I've been trying to work as much as possible before school to help make the transition a little bit easier.

Oh, and before I for the next week or so my phone will be offline. I lost it the day before moving and AT&T is working on getting me a new one. If you try and call (say for my birthday) and cannot get a hold of me. I apologize.

OK, until next time

Love you

--This is copied from my family blog in order to maintain some form of existence here on LJ. I am too lazy to post to both

Judging by the lack of votes in my little poll I think it is safe to assume not many people are reading this. I know Kathy does. Mom only has intermittent access to the Internet I'm not sure about everyone else though. Never the less I will persist. That way there will be a nice running record in case any of you find yourselves thinking "I wonder what Mike has been up to lately."

I received bad news recently. There are no University apartments available for this term. This puts a big wrench in my plans. I was hoping to avoid living in the dorms, which are outrageously expensive. I could also decide to find an apartment on my own but I am unprepared for the upfront costs involved with signing a lease. Moving is going to be expensive enough. I'm not sure if it is possible for me to find first and last month's rent plus a deposit. I am officially worried at the moment.

The other thing that bothers me is the apartments in Eugene are a bit squalid in my experience. I'm not looking forward to living that way again. I don't believe Eugene has an interior housing code which often leaves students living with mold growing though there walls and bug infestations. Hopefully my past experiences with Eugene apartments are the results of messy friends not substandard housing. I am skeptical though.

Here in Portland I am coming up on finals week trying to fit as much studying in during work as I can. I'm taking a break from a math assignment at the moment and thought writing this would be something productive I could do while I retreated from math. I have two more large assignments, a couple finals, and a ten page paper (which i have yet to outline) between me and the end of this term. I cannot wait. I am ready to move ont o phase two of my academic plan.

I spent the afternoon today roughly planning the kinds of classes I will take in the upcoming terms. There are so many history classes I want to take I wish I didn't have to piddle around with a language and Math. The hardest part about scheduling will be choosing the classes. Every year I am sure I will be mourning the lack of something in my class schedule. I only have two years though and with required language classes and work in the field here in the Northwest and in Italy (more about that later) I only have the chance to take 18 more classes 6 of those go toward my minor and 3 go toward other requirements. When I looked through the course catalogue for classes I was interested in taking there were upwards of 40. Perhaps this means I should thinking about getting a Graduate degree in History instead.

In addition to planning classes I have planning my finances as well. There are certainly a lot of x-factors for me in the future when it comes to money but I thought it would be good to get a rough idea of what I was getting in and could expect to spend. All my budgeting assumes that I go into the beginning of the school year with no debt. Given current events that is assuming a lot. My plan is to try and work as much as possible between August 16th (my last day of school) and September 16th (My last day of work at the hotel) and try and grab every last dollar I can. It is going to be a challenge. If you're religious, pray.


In more pleasant news I have discovered that in order to complete my minor I am going to have to go to Italy and work on restoring a Medieval village. That is a requirement I am willing to live with. I have scheduled my visit for the Summer of 2009 so that I have ample time to plan. I also wanted to give Scott a chance to save up so he can visit. Vancouver, Canada is his only experience in a foreign country and I've been prodding him to change that. He would like to go to Paris which is a short(ish) train ride from where I will be (near Milan) so hopefully that works out. My roommates have also voiced interest in coming to visit. Hey, you should come too!

I have run out of things to natter on about now. So, I should close. As always. I love you guys and hope you're all doing well and remember if you ever want to say Hi, just comment, call, email or message me. You pick.

Hasta

I haven't made a real post to LJ in sometime but I would like to maintain a presence here.  With this in mind I am going to start posting the entries I make for my family blog (http://mjasong.blogspot.com).  It seemed like the most convenient way to save time while maintaining some form of identity on LJ.  If some things seem weird contextually remember that the posts are intended for my family and their close friends. --Mike

I am officially registered for classes at the University of Oregon. U of O requires transfer students to attend a mandatory orientation before students are allowed to choose their first schedule. It was inconvenient but I made the 2 hour ($50 dollar!) trek down to Eugene via Amtrak. I didn't really learn that much at orientation. I go to a strange school currently so some of m credits didn't transfer, that was frustrating. I also learned that I am going to be required to take two years of foreign language which, while fun, is going to eat up valuable time and schedule space in my limited time as Oregon undergrad.

Unfortunately, transfer students are the last to register so my language options were minimal.  The only classes that had availability were Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili, Latin, Attic (ancient) Greek, Norwegian and a few Asian languages.  I chose Russian but not just because it's the most useful to Oregon.

Russian pairs itself well with Central Asian studies.  Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the other "stans") is an interesting region as they are for the most part secular and stable governmentally and sitting on vast stores of potential oil and gas wealth.  My idea to studying the region as a grad student is completely cynical.  They're going to be important in the future and have money thus as an American with knowledge of the region I might be able to make good money.  I'm not sure if I am really ready to commit to the idea though.

I am thinking about changing my language choice to Latin.  I'm not going to become fluent in anything I take for only two years so it probably doesn't matter what I take.  Latin is interesting to me though and at least somewhat useful as a history major.  Also, I know some Latin already and it uses the same alphabet so it will likely be much easier than the other options.  I don't know though I can't decide.  What do you think?

Now that my schedule is (mostly) set I need to focus on finding myself housing and employment.  Finding a job through the university will be relatively easy and though I am guaranteed some form of housing I am concerned.  There is a chance I could end up living in a dorm, which after living on my own for song long seems like a nightmare.  There are houses that the university provides qualified students and I am hoping to get into one of those.  I know I am in line, but haven't heard much else.  Keep you fingers crossed for me.

Outside of school not a whole lot has been going on.  Scott and I have been going on hikes as usual.  We went to Smith Rock in May which I don't think I ever mentioned.  There were some hairy, dangerous spots I didn't remember from our trips there growing up but we had a great time.  A few weeks ago we hiked along the pacific crest trail on Mt Hood for Scott's birthday.  It was beautiful as well.  We saw glaciers and tons of butterflies and of course saw amazing views of the upper portions of the mountain.  It was fun realizing that we were on the mountain that we look at from the city all the time.

 

 

Just a few days ago Scott's sister, her husband and their son Aidan came to visit.  Aidan is the one I email you about pleading with you to make donations to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation.  It was the first time I had met any of them.  Everything went well and it was great to meet them after hearing so much about them, especially Aidan.    He is so impossibly cute.

 

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Well, I think that I will wrap things up there.  I have a writing assignment I should really get cracking on.  I wrote this in part to avoid it.  I love you all and hope you doing well.

Hasta

Thanks to google you can now make your own custom youtube players stocked with whatever videos you choose. My green one above is a few randomly selected videos from my youtube favorites.

This post is more or less just a way for me to play with the feature. i'm not really trying to show any of you anything. Never the less feel free to click around and watch.