Portland

Moved to portland today. Was supposed to move yesterday, but the plane had a hydraulic blow-out or something. At least it hardly effected the radar so I could work on other stuff in the quiet hotel.

So happy to be in Portland! I'm not even sure why, but just being here makes me happier. Just a general feeling, immediately upon arriving before I'd even seen anything. I think it's because there's so much more greenery. Also, closer to the pacific. And it's a larger city. And although I haven't interacted with people much here, I bet there are more SE asians, and less people with southern US accents, which will definitely feel better.

Of course, I have been to portland once before, just over 4 years ago, so there are some other memories/emotions.

I switched to the morning flight. Used to leave about 6:30 pm, get back around 1:30 am. Now, will leave here at 4:30 am, back around 11:30 am. Think this may suit me a bit better. At least I will get some views... on the way here got some awesome mountain views. At the end of the week I'll probably switch back to evenings.

Went for a little drive. Must have taken a wrong turn, I was heading out into the middle of nowhere (industrial land) on a highway with no other cars. Could have been fun exploring and getting lost if a friend had been here, but alas. Headed back to civilization. In some "supercentre" shopping area, there were a few carnival rides so I thought I'd take a look. Went into one building, turned out it was a haunted house type of thing. But before I got in, I got called over by a security guy sitting there. Honestly, he was so incredibly obese, I didn't realise it was a real person, thought it was part of the 'show'. Sooo bad.

I also got happier arriving at this hotel, it's much nicer than the last. It's a "residence inn" so it's like a res room, got a little kitchenette and the bedroom's separate from the living room, and it's only a couple years old so it's very nice. I was out shopping for a few groceries since I can make some food here. Someone asked if I was finding everything okay, without thinking I said I was just looking for a 2L of milk. She looked soo confused! Eventually said "umm, there's gallon jugs over here" and I remembered I'm in the states. But it was funny, it was like she'd never heard of litres before!