Jen Clodius

One of the best parts of being back on the west coast is fresh produce. Never mind being three-to-five days fresher when produce doesn’t have to be trucked across the country — although that’s certainly a factor! — it’s the variety of it all.

It was rare that I could find jicama in an east-coast grocery store, and even rarer that the checker knew what it was. Conversations would go like this:

“Is this a turnip?”
“It’s jicama.”
“Never heard of it. What’s it taste like?”
“Kind of like water chestnut. You peel off the skin, then slice or chop it up and eat it raw. It’s great in salads.”
“Interesting — let me find the code…”

Thinking to speed the process (and suspecting what’ll come next), I spell, “J - i - c - ”
“You said ‘HICK-uh-ma’.”
“It’s like the ‘j’ in “Tijuana’. It’s pronounced ‘h’ but spelled ‘jic’.”

Once, the checker couldn’t find the code in her flip chart. She also thought I might be fibbing about the pronunciation (”I’m not saying THAT over the PA!”), so called the produce department for a price.

Moments later, over the PA we hear “The juh-CAM-uh is 99 cents a pound.”
“See?” the checker said. “I was pretty sure you weren’t saying it right.”

It’s nice to be home! (Added bonus: local blueberries are currently two POUNDS for $5!)

I can’t tell you whether I learned to quilt or knit first.  I still do both.

As much as I’ve been knitting recently (it is considerably more transportable than quilting), I’ve only momentarily slowed down — not stopped — my fabric addiction.  And I’m delighted to be associated with a spin-off of an old usenet group (RCTQ (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)) known as the Baseball Swap.  Each member of the Baseball Swap has favorite teams, and there is much back-and-forthing about whose team has the cutest shortstop.  And so on.

Last weekend, I had the good fortune to drift Seattle-wards to meet with two swappers I hadn’t met face-to-face (although I’ve known them for years).  Even better, we — and a woman I’ve known since grade school because she was one of my sister’s pals — got to go to a Mariner’s game on Sunday.

Quilters, baseball, fabric, baseball, kettle corn, baseball, an easy drive back to Portland, baseball, excellent company — it may not have been a traditional July 4 weekend, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

(completely aside, of course, from the fact that the Mariners lost in the 15th…)

No, not the “life” kind. The Microsoft kind.

My non-work life runs on a MacBook Pro. I do have Boot Camp installed and, on that side, run Microsoft XP so that I can update the website for an organization with which my dad is involved.

The head of that group knew I was job hunting, moving across the country, buying a house, and (in general) distracted. She hasn’t sent me updates for a while. She recently, graciously checked with Dad, who confirmed that I was (to the extent that I ever am) organized, and sent me the current updates.

Being relatively security conscious, the first thing I do whilst booting into the Windows side of my Mac is check for updates. And when I booted into Windows, I discovered that I’d missed several updates.

“Wow!”, I think. “An entire service pack! And all of the subsequent updates rely on having Service Pack 3 installed!” I’m a geek. I can do this.

Well.

First attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

I own a Mac. I boot into the Windows side maaaaybe once a month. The Windows version of iTunes can certainly go, and that’ll free up 68(ish)MB.

Sa-weeet. Done, and done.

Second attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

Uh… Oh, yeah. Windows. Reboot, then try again.

Third attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

Excuse me?

Well, okay. (think-a-think-a-think) Wait! Maybe the update needs 4-contiguous-MB? De-frag and generally clean up? What the heck, there’s no harm in trying!

Fourth attempt: Service Pack 3 requires 4 MB more than is available. Please delete something and try again.

I walked away. I muttered rude comments. I updated Dad’s website and ignored the potential security risk of using an out-dated version of XP on a Mac.

Evenutally I came to my senses, and Googled.

Ah. Update Boot Camp, THEN attempt to install Service Pack 3.

Done, and done.

(And people wonder why folks love Macs, and are annoyed by Windows? You coulda given me a teeny bit more of a clue in the error message!)

Too, too fun!

I met a new friend (TracyBird, on Ravelry) at World-Wide Knit In Public day. We chatted a bit, and discovered that neither of us had time (or, on my part, inclination) to spend more than a day at Black Sheep Gathering. Since she was already planning on a day trip Saturday, we agreed to go together.

Well!

What a fun trip that turned out to be! TracyBird is great company, we accommodated each other’s interests without (I think) particularly noticing, served as reciprocal enablers and stash enhancers, were both ready (again, I think) to leave about the same time, and generally had a fabulous time.

We ran into Gail, Duffy (of singing-to-the-Harlot fame), and Susan (all PDX bloggers) in the parking lot, but only ever saw Duffy again. We did get to see Tammy and Debbie from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (Socks That Rock!) (and I finally got to meet Kim, Tammy’s almost-grown, and very charming daughter). And I bought (without flinching three skeins of Rare Gems (bless you, Tina!)

All in all, a great day — and credit to TracyBird for allowing someone she’d just met to tag along!

I closed on the house on March 27, moved in March 28th. Since then, I’ve
- bought a new washer and dryer
- had the roof replaced
- had the furnace replaced
- had the water heater replaced
- had a heat pump installed
- bought some bits of furniture
- planned (with Tric’s help) what furniture I want to buy next
- gotten input from Tric on colors and themes and design and balance

I’ve begun to think that maybe I can stop analyzing every move quite so much — I may be getting to the point where I can stop thinking about *how* I live in the house, and start just living there.

But…

I noticed a couple of days ago that the fridge is running oddly. It turns on for a minute or two, turns off for 30 to 45 seconds, then turns on for a minute or two, then turns off for 30 to 45 seconds… I’m pretty sure that’s Not A Good Thing.

 sigh.

… of being a haphazard blogger is that no one believes you blog and, as a result, no one expects you to blog.

The DISadvantage is that no one expects you to blog, so you don’t make it a priority.

Since last post, I’ve gone to sock camp (hooray, Blue Moon Fiber Arts!) with my friend Susan — and made new friends in the process AND learned a ton. I also got to see the Yarn Harlot at the PDX stop of her book tour, and ordered Cat Bordhi’s “Magical Knitting” (because, of course, I don’t have enough books in boxes in my living room), and joined the Monkey KawKaw knit-along hosted by equally odd ex-campers.

On the “seriously hopeful” side, my sister is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and promises to help me choose furniture. On the “less hopeful” side, I still haven’t figured out how to post pics to this blog! Hmph!

After almost six weeks here (can that be true?) and almost five weeks on the job (ditto?!), I have to say that I love, love, love being here.

Found a house that fits me at a price I can afford, my folks visiting for the weekend tomorrow (and have promised a longer visit this summer) (and I’ve even managed to vacuum the guest room after setting it up), a pal is arriving next weekend for a fiberishly delicious week … it’s hard to imagine how this could be better.

Okay, that’s not *exactly* true. Everything unpacked, wireless working flawlessly, detritus removed… THAT would be better. But I’m well on the way

… woke up to find 2″ of snow on top of the ice in the hotel parking lot. That was a definite “glad I’m driving a Subaru!” moment.
… wondered if the gifted “lucky bamboo” on the passenger side floorboards froze irretrievably overnight — and decided not to even think about the printer’s ink cartridges in the trunk.
… got to drive through the Wasatch in (no kidding!) “ice fog”. It was dark, visibility was awful, and I was grateful for a couple of truckers who obviously knew the road and weren’t too annoyed by my following their tail lights.
… sang “Here We Have Idaho!” (silver and gold in the sunlight blaze) when crossing from Utah into my natal state.
… was reminded by my dad not to bother stopping in Pendleton, OR since they’ve moved the factory store across the river.
… realized that I don’t know the words to Oregon’s state song, though I did sing “Washington, My Home!” (this is my land, my native land) as soon as I saw WA across the Columbia.
… teared up a little when driving the Columbia Gorge. I truly feel like things — including the landscape — make sense again.
… landed in Portland. (Yay, hooray!)

I’m in a cute little studio apartment in an extended-stay hotel. I’ve got a fridge, microwave, two-burner cook top (no oven), a toaster, coffee pot, dishes and silverware for two, a saucepan, frying pan, and ironing board and iron. They come in once a week to change sheets and towels! I’ve been to the grocery store, so have a salad and salmon steamer thingie for dinner, and breakfast stuff. (Tomorrow I’ll find Trader Joe’s.)

Thank you all for your prayers, good thoughts, and general companionship on this jaunt!

All best,
Jen (ta-done!)

(originally posted 23 Feb 08)