Fifty-third posting - search

I spent my first weekend here house-hunting. I also joined a gym (2 blocks away), ran around the neighborhood a couple of times, and found a great diner than served blue-corn pancakes. Yum (Byways Cafe). I've also sampled more than a few of the region's terrific wines and beers. Double yum.

Fortuanately, I have added to the number of people I call friends. We can add Heather, with whom I went to b'school, as well as Barbara, the owner of a great little place near me called Two Wings. It's actually the first restaurant in the area, which until a few years ago was a quirky, industrial, warehouse-y type place, but with a recent infusion of good urban planning and smart investment, has become a quirky, industrial-looking, warehouse-y, lofty, great restaurants and REI/Whole Foods/Adidas/Powell's Books kind of place. I dig it so far.

Anyway, I was at the restaurant (Two Wings) a few minutes before seven and was the only one there. I had a book (can't eat solo w/o one), and made friends with the bartender, who was cute but I didn't catch her name (tattoo on her hip), and also the owner (Barbara). The bartender got busy when other diners showed up, so Barbara and I chatted about the food industry, restaurants in Oregon, locally grown produce, challenges, highs, lows, and so on. Turns out that she goes to CT every summer to teach cooking at a sleep away camp in Kent. I had Jerusalem artichoke soup and great burger for dinner. Triple yum.

Most of the weekend was househunting with Stepanie, my realtor, who talks like a Real World watchin', surfer chick with no qualms about stating her opinion. I like her and trust her judgement - so far, at least. I won't bore you with details about the housing market, but of the 18 places I saw, 2 were pretty good, but I didn't love any to make an offer. The style of many of the houses are great - bungalow, craftsman style, with lots of wood, simple layouts with 2-3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Also, every house must be painted 1 of a choice of 8 colors, which range from pine green to mustard to blue/grey. In even the crappiest neighborhoods, most of the paint jobs looked good, though.

There are a few interesting areas (Beaumont, Hollywood, Mt Tabor, Hawthorne, Alameda), and I even looked at 2 places right next to the famous Kennedy School, but one was too new and had a "great room" where one didn't belong, and the other was more of a crack house than a residence. Not that I have anything against crack houses...

Have a great weeks, folks, and I'll keep you updated. NATHAN