Saturday, May 28, 2005
Reporting From Exile: Episode 2
We're going on seven days in Reno, most of which was spent unpacking and job hunting with a little exploration on the side. This definitely isn't Portland, but as any Portlander can tell you, that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
Reno has a similar layout to Portland. Where in PDX you have the Willamette River separating East from West and Burnside separating North from South, Reno's cross-section is made up of highways 395 & 80. Reno has the upper hand with the addition of McCarran Boulevard. A wonderful street McCarran, it circles the entire city (town?). If you ever get lost, try to find McCarran-at some point while traversing the circumference of the city you'll find your way.
In Portland, the view from our bedroom window was of the St. Johns Bridge. A million dollar view in a significantly more affordable neighborhood. (Just give it time though, the gentrification machine has already set its sights on St. Johns, next stop Linnton! Let's turn the whole damn city into multi-use, multi-story McHouses. Wilderness? Who needs wilderness, them yuppies need a place to rest their weary heads.) The view in Reno is equally spectacular. Our balcony overlooks a canyon full of hawks, birds and all manner of critters. By turning your head slightly to the left you can take in the view of the Reno skyline.
I miss Fred Meyer's, but thanks to their corporate parents Kroger, we have Freddy's inbred cousin Smith's down here. The prices are reasonable except they're doing that stupid routine Safeway does by jacking up the prices only to give you a "discount" if you have one of their little track-your-shopping-habits card. Unlike Safeway, they play this up to the point of hilarity. A package of steaks carried the price tag of $38.95, however if you use your handy-dandy club card, they could be purchased for the low, low price of $18.00, or exactly what they are worth.
Thankfully Reno is one of the states with a WinCo, without which we would not be able to survive. I am hopelessly addicted to WinCo. It's like Costco without the pain in the ass parking issues and stupid membership fee.
Checked out the library today which was pretty kicking. This provided for an interesting piece of trivia: Multnomah County Library has reserved 500 copies of Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince, the Washoe County Library a mere 50. When you take into account that Reno's population is about 1/10th (or less) of the Portland metropolitan area, it makes sense, but it still struck me as funny.
And just to make things more cozy for us, the Biggest Little City in the World is also dealing with their own influx of Californians jacking up real estate costs and spreading new neighborhoods faster than the Trailblazers spread V.D.. In truth this (along with the lower unemployment rate) is part of the reason for our exile as Molliwogg is looking to become a Real Estate agent. Me? I'm just looking for a gig to pay the bills so I can finish this damn book and get started on the next one, something that I'm hoping the relative isolation of the High Sierras will help accomplish.
I'm off to shoot a man just to watch him die.
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