Hello from Portland!
Aug. 9th, 2006 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenn_unpluggedI meant to post about this earlier, but this week has gotten away from me. So I'm in Portland for the next two weeks, teaching a two-week math course for teachers in the Masters' program at Portland State University. It's a variation of a course I teach at UT every spring, called "An Advanced Perspective on School Algebra".
Anyway, I showed up Monday morning to find that I have four students in my class. Four. Wow. Well, they pay me the same if it's four or twenty-four, and this way the grading sure is easy. It's more like a little seminar or study group than a class. The students are amazing, though, and were completely willing to jump in and work hard and talk about mathematical ideas. Either that, or the size of the class means no one can hide or zone out. Either way, it makes for a great experience for all of us, I think.
I'm living in a little one-bedroom apartment in downtown Portland, about a half a mile from the university. The ground floor of the building has a Starbucks and a bakery and a convenience store and a couple of restaurants, so everything I need is just outside. I live over a Starbucks!!! Hee.
The only problem so far with the apartment has been that it isn't air-conditioned. (I live in Texas, where you need a sweater inside in the summer, so bear with me.) There's an "air conditioner" in the bedroom, but the air that comes out of it is only marginally cooler than the air in the room. And because the apartment is laid out like a "U", it really only marginally cools one room -- and then only if I keep the door closed. Oddly, it's like 72 outside, but it's 85 inside, and there seems to be little I can do about it. Opening doors and windows does not invite the cool air inside. I begged the building management for a fan and they finally delivered it today, which makes sitting in the living room closer to tolerable. But still, it's too cold to be outside and too hot to be inside. That makes no sense.
But I shall survive, of course. I have high speed internet, yay! Which I had to install and set up myself. They left me a new unpoened box with a cable modem and a "Comcast connection kit", and I had to do the rest. Fortunately, those things are generally idiot-proof.
So I have this finger infection. I have a bad habit of biting my nails and chewing my cuticles, and so my cuticle got infected. I first noticed it late last week, but I figured it would go away. I put Neosporin on it and soaked it in hydrogen peroxide, and kept a band-aid on it. Well, it didn't get better. It got so bad that I had a hard time doing anything at all with my right hand. My fingertip swelled up and hurt and looked pretty gross, and my hand ached. I went to a drugstore and bought supplies to lance it to relieve the pressure, which helped. And then I finally looked it up on the internet. Turns out it's a really common sort of cuticle infection, and if left untreated can be really serious!
So this morning, I needed to find a doctor. It turns out that there aren't any hospitals or urgent care clinics in downtown Portland. I went to PSU's student health center, but they only serve students. They gave me directions to an urgent care clinic I could get to on the train, though, and five hours later, I had seen a doctor and gotten a prescription for antibiotics. So now I'm on antibiotics, and my finger feels much better already. And I got to ride a train, which is pretty cool.
Tonight I wandered down to the waterfront (three blocks from my apartment, yay) to find a place for dinner. I ended up eating in a little wine bar, having a flight of light white wines and noshing on a plate of olives, cheese, and salamis. It was lovely sitting there by the river, and even a bit cool. My dad called, and I had a great talk with him. He's in Atlanta for business at the moment, so it was quite late at night there. He told me they've acquired two new cats and another horse. I tell you, that's where I get it from. If it weren't for Doug's two pet maximum, I'd have a dog or two (little yappy ones, mwahaha!) , at least one more cat, a rabbit, a bird, some mice, fish...
Doug was originally going to come out this weekend, but his dad is having surgery on Friday, so he's going to Colorado to be with his family. I feel bad that I can't go, but the airfare was incredibly steep, and the times that I could fly in were inconvenient for anyone to come pick me up. I'll be thinking of Ray on Friday, though, and hoping that everything goes well for him.
So I'll be spending my birthday alone this year. I don't think I've ever spent my birthday alone before. It doesn't sound so bad, though. I'll find a way to keep myself entertained, I'm sure. ;-)
Anyway, I showed up Monday morning to find that I have four students in my class. Four. Wow. Well, they pay me the same if it's four or twenty-four, and this way the grading sure is easy. It's more like a little seminar or study group than a class. The students are amazing, though, and were completely willing to jump in and work hard and talk about mathematical ideas. Either that, or the size of the class means no one can hide or zone out. Either way, it makes for a great experience for all of us, I think.
I'm living in a little one-bedroom apartment in downtown Portland, about a half a mile from the university. The ground floor of the building has a Starbucks and a bakery and a convenience store and a couple of restaurants, so everything I need is just outside. I live over a Starbucks!!! Hee.
The only problem so far with the apartment has been that it isn't air-conditioned. (I live in Texas, where you need a sweater inside in the summer, so bear with me.) There's an "air conditioner" in the bedroom, but the air that comes out of it is only marginally cooler than the air in the room. And because the apartment is laid out like a "U", it really only marginally cools one room -- and then only if I keep the door closed. Oddly, it's like 72 outside, but it's 85 inside, and there seems to be little I can do about it. Opening doors and windows does not invite the cool air inside. I begged the building management for a fan and they finally delivered it today, which makes sitting in the living room closer to tolerable. But still, it's too cold to be outside and too hot to be inside. That makes no sense.
But I shall survive, of course. I have high speed internet, yay! Which I had to install and set up myself. They left me a new unpoened box with a cable modem and a "Comcast connection kit", and I had to do the rest. Fortunately, those things are generally idiot-proof.
So I have this finger infection. I have a bad habit of biting my nails and chewing my cuticles, and so my cuticle got infected. I first noticed it late last week, but I figured it would go away. I put Neosporin on it and soaked it in hydrogen peroxide, and kept a band-aid on it. Well, it didn't get better. It got so bad that I had a hard time doing anything at all with my right hand. My fingertip swelled up and hurt and looked pretty gross, and my hand ached. I went to a drugstore and bought supplies to lance it to relieve the pressure, which helped. And then I finally looked it up on the internet. Turns out it's a really common sort of cuticle infection, and if left untreated can be really serious!
So this morning, I needed to find a doctor. It turns out that there aren't any hospitals or urgent care clinics in downtown Portland. I went to PSU's student health center, but they only serve students. They gave me directions to an urgent care clinic I could get to on the train, though, and five hours later, I had seen a doctor and gotten a prescription for antibiotics. So now I'm on antibiotics, and my finger feels much better already. And I got to ride a train, which is pretty cool.
Tonight I wandered down to the waterfront (three blocks from my apartment, yay) to find a place for dinner. I ended up eating in a little wine bar, having a flight of light white wines and noshing on a plate of olives, cheese, and salamis. It was lovely sitting there by the river, and even a bit cool. My dad called, and I had a great talk with him. He's in Atlanta for business at the moment, so it was quite late at night there. He told me they've acquired two new cats and another horse. I tell you, that's where I get it from. If it weren't for Doug's two pet maximum, I'd have a dog or two (little yappy ones, mwahaha!) , at least one more cat, a rabbit, a bird, some mice, fish...
Doug was originally going to come out this weekend, but his dad is having surgery on Friday, so he's going to Colorado to be with his family. I feel bad that I can't go, but the airfare was incredibly steep, and the times that I could fly in were inconvenient for anyone to come pick me up. I'll be thinking of Ray on Friday, though, and hoping that everything goes well for him.
So I'll be spending my birthday alone this year. I don't think I've ever spent my birthday alone before. It doesn't sound so bad, though. I'll find a way to keep myself entertained, I'm sure. ;-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:39 am (UTC)Darling, you do NOT have to spend your birthday alone!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:44 am (UTC)I can drive you around if you don't mind a rolling billboard of a minivan. I think you'd approve of my stickers. :)
You can meet up with my kids and such and then we can head for dinner or movie or whatever you like.
Afternoon sometime?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:47 am (UTC)YAY!!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-10 09:53 pm (UTC)