Portland, Oregon

Continuing my gypsy lifestyle, I'm in Portland for a few weeks.  What am I doing here?  So far, work.  I'd be mildly disgruntled but I like the projects I'm doing, so I'm actually happy hacking away at them, even though I'm putting in long hours.  Never fear—I have fun and frivolity scheduled as well.

All that amounts to one thing: I haven't done anything interesting to blog about.  Unless you count the episode on the airplane with little boy who jumped into my lap.  

Fortunately, I realized this early enough in the day to brainstorm ways of spicing up my life for you guys.  What did I come up with?  Donuts, of course.

So I embarked on a perilous mission this afternoon, braving bus and train and strange Oregonians with lisps, to go downtown to The Realm of the Donut, known in Portland as Voodoo Doughnuts and Wedding Chapel.

A couple observations about the donut shop:

1. The line was long.  What are people doing getting donuts at 4pm?  Don't they have jobs?
2. Buying donuts at 2am is much more satisfying than at 4pm anyway.  Especially after you've been butchering songs at the karaoke place around the corner.
3. You should go in knowing what you want, because the sugar fumes will mess with you and make you think you really do need a bacon maple bar in addition to a Portland cream and one smothered with Coco Puffs.
4. Milk is essential.
5. If you need to walk off the subsequent sugar rush, the waterfront is right there and a lovely option.  Also, there's Kell's—arguably one of the best Irish pubs in the states.  A Guinness will always set you right.

No, I didn't buy more than one donut, and I only ate half of that.  I'm losing it in my old age.