drug of choice

Coffee. Not just lattes, not just Starbucks, but real coffee. Espresso from Stumptown is my current fetish. I also recently found out that they've got two locations in Seattle... something I didn't know last week in Portland when I stalked up. Check this place out even if you're not into coffee; you'll undoubtedly be able to find a delicious pastry. (But really, why does the non-coffee brigade insist on invading the Northwest?)

reed college

For those of you who don't know about Reed College, it's a private liberal arts college just a few miles from downtown Portland. Why do I love it?
-Great selection of majors (aspiring mathematicians, don't go here)
-Beautiful campus in a great neighborhood near a spectacular city
-No sororities, major sports teams, or religious affiliations
-A library that stays open late to fit the needs of its ultra-nerdy students
-Dorms like palaces
-And of course my favorite thing: language-focused dorms. The ones I remember off the top of my head are French, Spanish, and Russian, but there are definitely more than that. In these dorms you speak that language the majority of the time. You can see why this sounds appealing to a prospective French major..

Just a bike ride away from Stumptown Coffee.

genesis

Don't get me wrong; we're not religious here. Why did I call this post "genesis" rather than any of the other words that may have sufficed, such as "commencement," "inception," or even "beginning?" It's actually because I stayed at the Marriot in Portland last week and read the first 2 pages of the bible in the drawer to pass the time while my friend was in the shower.