Tag Archives: PDX

Walla Walla, WA vs. Portland, OR

Decisions, , ,

In which I just checked my voice mail.

I have an interview tomorrow afternoon for a helpdesk position at a “medical facility” (probably a clinic, but maybe a hospital, I don’t know because an outsourced IT company is actually doing the hiring). The pay range is $10-$14 an hour, DOE, which is about right for Walla Walla. The two guys I’ve emailed with so far, though, seem like really great people.

The job posting suggested that people without degrees or certifications need not apply, but I applied anyway and they called me back because YOU DON’T GET COMPUTER SCIENCE DEGREES FOR TEN DOLLARS AN HOUR, not even with a high unemployment rate. Plus I also said I was studying for my CCNA, which is true in the sense that I looked at the books the other day, and false in the sense that I haven’t really studied in weeks because that shit is boring. I love networking, but they’ve somehow managed to jargonize and sterilize the material to such an extent that I can barely stay awake the length of a chapter.

It’s amazing. Really. Because I’ll read pretty much anything. I’ve read the back of my shampoo bottle at least two hundred times just because it’s there: THAT’S how boring the CCNA manual is.

But tomorrow’s helpdesk interview is not all that’s happening this week on the job front. Oh, no, it isn’t. A famous tea company also received an application from yours truly last week, and they’ve just called and left a voice mail asking if I can come in for an interview.

They’re in Tigard. Tigard, Oregon. Tigard, Oregon, the suburb of Portland. I haven’t called them back yet because my brain is broken. Sure, I could borrow my brother’s truck and zip over to PDX, crash the night at 80’s, and then pop over to Tigard and say hi to these lovely tea folks… but what if? What if what if what if? What if they actually hire me?

Li’l thought experiment here: could I actually manage a move to PDX? I don’t own a car, so I suppose I could just grab a Greyhound out there, crash with various friends, and take public transportation to work while looking for a roommate on the bulletin board at the local Whole Foods. I guess the dog could stay here with G’ma? (INSERT GUILT TRIP HERE OH GOD I LOVE YOU BINDU.) I could come back and get the rest of my shit later, once I make friends with people who have cars. Not that I have that much shit. Hell, I don’t even own dishes. Actually, I really don’t own enough shit to set up house. I have no furniture. No pots and pans. I’d probably need to rent a furnished room.

To take TriMet from, for example, 80’s house to the tea store in Tigard, though? SIXTY-SEVEN MINUTES, and it costs nearly five bucks. To be at work by 8, one would have to leave at 6:30, which means one would have to get up at… YE GODS. Early, yes, but not impossible.

I’d need enough money to survive until my first paycheck. I probably don’t have that, not since I’d be eating out and taking the bus for two to four weeks. Probably no way to borrow, either, since all my relatives are also broke.

So, um, yeah. It’s a definite maybe. Whatever that means.

Gawd. Should I call back? Or just pretend I never got the message? ARGH.

Valley Vision is Awesome

Health, , , , , ,

In which I want the whole Intarwebz to know how good those folks are over at Valley Vision.

Last month, I acknowledged that I really could not see anything clearly any more. I know what traffic signs say because of their shape and color, but I had to admit I really could no longer truly see them, and that on those rare occasions when I do drive I’m probably a heinous menace to everyone else on the road.

I asked a local where I should go; Teh BF – who doesn’t even wear corrective lenses, and was therefore mostly just guessing – said I should “try Valley Vision, over on Main.”

So I went to their website to get their phone number, and discovered that I could not only make an appointment online, but I could also fill out and submit the intake sheet before even setting foot in their offices! And I received an email confirmation! The next morning, they called me to confirm my appointment! Awesome.

When I went to my first appointment, the receptionist greeted me immediately. She explained the fees, and allowed me to walk over and make a payment in advance while I was waiting. My time in the waiting room was barely five minutes, and all the front office service was fast, friendly, and professional.

I went through the various stages of my exam with no waiting; the doctor came in immediately after the assistant was finished with me, and when all that was done I was escorted over to the optician to choose frames for my new glasses and he helped me immediately.

With my old contact lenses in, I was seeing 20/100. That’s, like, half legally blind, people. Totally should not be driving a motor vehicle like that! (It’s amazing how the brain works; it really will fill in an awful lot of missing information by drawing on experience. It’s why people can listen to transistor radios and think what they’re hearing is music: their brains fill in all the missing resonances.) I have mild presbyopia (loss of focusing ability), but not enough to need bifocals – thank God. (This is a really cool article for those of us who have never understood what the hell their optometrists were talking about.)

When I picked up my glasses, they service was again fast and friendly. When I picked up my contacts, I was given an exam by the doctor to make sure they fit and was asked back in two weeks for a follow-up.

Today the doctor checked the fit of my lenses extensively (even used yellow dye to check tear pooling under the lenses), gave me another Snellen chart exam, and determined I actually need another set of stronger lenses. I can pick them up next week and give them back the ones I have now.

Over all, killer service. I am now able to actually see things, and when I get my new new lenses I’ll be able to see EVEN MOAR. (I’ve been wearing gas permeable hard contact lenses for twenty years and never had a doctor have me back for two follow-ups and then give me another set of lenses to make it right. HOW HOT IS THAT?!)

I-84 at Arlington 12302008

In other VERY EXCITING news, we’re going to see Adie & Adam in Portland for New Year’s Eve. Hopefully I-84 down the Gorge will be clear, and we’ll get there in time to actually go out before the year changes!