Eugene, Oregon

Looking back, I realize that I must have low self-esteem. Why else would I spend most of my time here justifying what I've done? I have made excuses for why I'm blogging in the first place, why I joined Facebook, even why I'm talking about old jobs. Well, guess what? I am going to justify one more time, only slightly. I have been getting questioned as to why I live in Oregon (you're not the only one, Dave). So now that you know why I'm writing this, we can move on.

Ah, but first. Why Oregon? This is tricky. A friend once talked about an uncle living in Oregon (at that point in my life, everyone pronounced it "Or-ih-gahn," which is WRONG!). That planted a seed. Soon afterward, I was questioning my mom, accusing her of lying to me about where I was born. It must have been Oregon, since I had a rather realistic dream that said I was born there, not Connecticut. But no. So when it came time to leave Oswego, of course I went to...Tucson, Arizona! Not like Oregon at all. However, it was meant to be. That's where I met Nancy, and held three jobs that will be discussed here later. Soon after meeting Nancy, she finished with the community college part of her life, and didn't want to go to the University of Arizona. (Whew!). Plus, it was about 108 degrees everyday. So we decided to move. She wanted to go to San Francisco, but I said it was too expensive. And since both of us are from the East Coast, we knew we didn't want to go back to the humidity. So I said, very quietly, "how 'bout Oregon?"

She said "YES!" (That's what it sounded like in my mind, at least). There are a few schools in Oregon, but it really came down to Portland and Eugene. Portland is a big city, and that's not really my style. The "Welcome to Eugene" sign said (and still says, for some reason) 137,893. Perfecto. Then we visited to make sure, and it was underwhelming and weird. But we moved here anyway, because we are not logical.

Finding work was difficult for me. I had a few jobs before I settled at a shoe store. I also decided to go to school as well (finally). And then I could explore. I discovered all sorts of stuff. Let me start with the things about this place that are not so good:

Downtown. Cool older buildings have been given "modern" facades, government buildings have bars on the outside to look like prisons, and some spots haven't quite filled in yet.



Diversity is an issue. The best description I've ever heard is, "I've never seen so many different kinds of white people." True.



And it rains every once in a while. Big deal. That's why it's so green. It rained in Tucson like twice, ever, and what color do you think it is there, huh? You guessed it, brown. There are a couple green things, but they are all angry and trying to hurt people.

The real question is, why do I LOVE it here? I'm not sure exactly. But I can certainly list things I like and hope they all add up to love in the end. Here we go.

There are always people outside. The weather can be good, bad, or otherwise and it does not matter. We have covers for everything, just so we can keep going outside. We are obsessed with it.

The University of Oregon Ducks are here. Strange football uniforms, but generally good teams, and as a proud Duck that makes me happy. Plus baseball is back this year for the first time since 1981.

It is beautiful, in a way that is understated. There are two rivers (Willamette and McKenzie) that go through town, most of the city is between two buttes, and there are gorgeous trees everywhere. Plus a zillion parks, only a couple streets that are strip mall filled, and Springfield right across the river, so we have a place to put our garbage that is close by. (I have friends in Springtucky, so I must say that I am kidding, only I'm sort of not).

There are ducks and geese that live at the riverbank - which is 1 block from my house - all year round.

I am an hour's drive from the coast, mountains, waterfalls, desert, hot springs, and Corvallis. Well, scratch the Corvallis part. That place makes Springfield look clean. I'm not even sure they have running water yet. Or soap.

Click on this map for another reason why Eugene dominates. If you gaze in the upper left-hand corner long enough, it'll make sense.

We typically vote people into office who actually care about regular folks while trying to promote business at the same time. I know, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it must be possible. Except downtown is poop. Oh well, at least we still care about people.

There are bike paths all over the place. When I was in school and working full-time, I couldn't go to the gym. So I simply rode my bike to and from school, sometimes twice each day, and never got fat. We drove our car 4,000 miles last year.

And oh yes, the weather. It rains constantly. Every second of every day. Legend has it that it once stopped raining here for a whole hour in 1965, but every single witness of this event has strangely died or vanished. (That is for people who live in California. If you live anywhere else, read on.). It rains a good deal between November and February. There are still stretches of sun, but that makes it colder. As a general rule, cold and precipitation don't occur at the same time, so it snows about once a year. March through June can be spastic, rain one second and 75 degrees and sunny the next. But July through September are perfect. It hardly ever rains, hardly ever gets unbearably hot, and it is not humid. Seriously. It gets cold overnight, so sleeping is possible. I've never been to a place where the weather made me happier, because I get long stretches of great weather and the change in seasons too, all without owning a snow shovel. Na na na na boo boo.

So if you live somewhere else, read this and ask yourself "why do I live here?" Don't think too long, there's no good answer. You might as well start packing.