Oct 20, 2010
Today is my four month anniversary. I haven't blogged since, I don't know when. We've been without internet and electricity for a long time. We're still in Portland. We stay in the truck near an abandoned school. Riley plays with other dogs in the field. We are about 2 blocks from St. Francis, where we eat, recieve mail, and take showers. Everyone is pretty nice except the REALLY crazy ones, but they're tolerable. Every morning, I wake up early, and play Gameboy games on Lauren's old hacked 5th generation iPod. I've been playing Picross. At 10:00 the shelter opens, so I can use the commode, and maybe get some coffee and breakfast. Today, I had sushi. They sushi lady comes by with the leftovers from her catering business. I check the mail on the way back to the truck, and see if the new edition of the free paper is out. Then, I walk Riley, read the paper, and have my coffee. I usually eat a light brunch of extra-sharp cheddar cheese, and bread and butter pickles. Lauren wakes up and lays with Riley for awhile, then we figure out what we are going to do with the day.
Today, while deciding what to do, Lauren's Big K overturned onto our mattress. Today is Laundry Day. Last week it rained pretty heavily, so we decided to pull everything out of the truck, and clean and dry it. Luckily, the soda didn't go into the padding, so we are able to wash the cover. Yesterday we went into downtown Portland to register with Labor Ready, and check on a free laundry program. Labor Ready only accept applications at 11am sharp on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The laundry program was discontinued due to some sort of abuse/excuse. I've heard various stories from each side of the debacle. They referred us to a place about 80 blocks East of where we park. I don't have a license, so we try to call the number for them we have in our recourse manual, but it was a bad photocopy, and the number was cut off. We called the 211 vagrancy hot line and got he number. As 211 had said, they didn't answer. We drove out there and signed up for a "labor exchange". They give us free laundry vouchers to a place that has free wifi, and we give them labor, 30 minutes equals a wash and dry (with detergent). They spot you the first 60 minutes though, so we went to the laundromat. Lauren and I both got vouchers. We have 10 minutes left on the wash.
Everyday at 5, dinner is served in the dining hall. We like to get there early so there might still be some coffee left. We usually find a spot, plug in my backpack, fill the water bottles, and maybe read a magazine or play a game. After announcements and a prayer, they bring trays of food to your tables. The food is a cross between school cafeteria food and what George cooks when he's to drunk to remember cooking it, the night before; only, its on the trays they have in jail. I love it. All the kitchen staff are volunteers, and volunteers get lunch the next day. I cleaned the women's bathroom last week. After dinner I make sure that I am through with plumbing for the evening, and head back to the truck to have my after-dinner beer. It's a Schlitz Very Smooth Lager, and its the worst beer I've ever consistently purchased. Its 8.5% alcohol, 24 ounces, and costs $1.30. I try to keep them at around 2 per day.
In the evenings, we sometimes go to the dog park or stay in and play cards or scrabble. If my computer has enough of a charge, we watch a movie or two. We park in the sun, so the solar panel has time to recharge the spare battery, which can buy us up to 3 more hours of computer time. We have to use my computer because, I have Divx, and I pirate movie torrents, and they come in Divx format. I used to play Nintendo roms on my computer, but my USB controller may have died. Before The War with the Vegans, we parked on the street in front of a strip mall. The had a coffee shop (with great wifi, but no outdoor electric), A vegan clothing store (Herbivore), a vegan grocery store (Food Fight) and a tattoo parlor. This was a nice arrangement since it was closer to the shelter and had trees to provide privacy. We parked next to a van that never moved. I t belonged to the a closed business. One day we came home to find a younger couple and a police officer standing behind the truck. They heard Riley whining while we were eating. The officer told them to leave us alone, and then explained that the man was wearing a PITA fleece, and that they were crazy.
The War With The Vegans started after about a week of using this spot. While walking one morning, I found some records in the trash. I walked 60 blocks, and tried to sell them to some record stores, but nobody wanted them. One guy said he'd give me .50 for one, so I said, "sure," but then he said, "look, we don't want 'em, okay!" We exchanged another coarse word, and I left. When I came back to the truck put a sign on em. $1.30 OBO: 1 beer. They were there for a few days with no interest. I even, told Lauren, that I wished someone would steal one, just to make me think I at least had something. Then someone did. They took Phil Collins and Steely Dan. I asked Lauren if she did it, because that would have been funny. I shrugged, and went to bed.
The first shot was fired early that morning; about 5 am. I heard some people talking about my records outside, and one of them tore down my sign. I said, screw it, and went back to sleep. In the morning the records were gone, the sign was tossed down the street, and there was a note on the windshield. (They could have recycled, by using my sign for the note.) The note read that the truck had been reported to the police as abandoned, and that we had been reported to animal control for leaving the dog in the truck for 40 minutes while we eat every night. Keep in mind, its like 60-70 degrees. I went to the shelter to find out our rights. I called the police to verify them. The law says that I have to move the truck every 24 hrs. That van has been there for weeks. I called the abandoned vehicle line, and the message said, that they are nopt even accepting reports of abandoned vehicles at this time, due to volume. I new they didn't call animal control, or they would have been there already. The note told us tha, if we could not take care of our dog, we could simply deposit him at "The Tattoo Shop or Stores Across the Street." So we walk into the tattoo shop, raising all kinds of hell. They started to call the police; I told them to. They didn't know anything about the note that was signed by them and written on tattoo copy paper. We proceeded down the entire strip mall inquiring about the note. Everyone was extremely embarrassed at being called out in front of customers. Every time they mentioned how they heard of someone saying the heard the dog whining, it got worse. Later the man at the tattoo shop came over, and said it was Michelle, from Herbivore. He conveyed his irritation at being associated with the note.
We went back to Herbivore to wait for Michelle. We eventually left her a note, encouraging her to meet, us and the dog, to see for herself that the dog is in no way abused. We even told her environmentally conscience self, that we would arbitrarily burn our gas, to move the truck once a day to be in accordance with the law. She has yet to have the courage to even call. The irony is that, the dog park was why we parked there. We decided it would be best if we moved the truck once a day, so we drove around the block to dinner. The next day, when we came back from dinner, all of the spaces on the street were taken by vehicles decorated with stickers along the lines of, "Stop Eating Animals." One would wonder why the grocery store sells these stickers. We had never seen more that 1 car in this 8 car area. After the stores closed, they were all gone. We were there when they tried to come back the next day. We kept this up for a few days, till we got bored and went to the next street.
I wanted to start working as soon as I got here, but it turns out that Oregon is between the 1st and 3rd least employed state in the country. You never notice how many vagrants there are going to shelters, until you're waiting in line behind them. I threw out what applications I could, and even typed a resume for some kitchen jobs that sounded promising. I got tired of walking blocks and blocks every morning, just to have people say no, so we decided to go to Labor Ready. We (or at least I) go back tomorrow morning. We Always walk into town, because there is nowhere to park, and I shouldn't drive any more than I have to. I get my licence back in 11 days. We applied for a townhouse through the Housing Authority of Portland, but the list is like 1-6 years long, and you have to spend $70 to get on it. We are going to need an income. We don't need money for anything besides a daily allotment for beer, and the gasoline budget for our eventual departure. We plan to leave around March and we will need at least $1000 to feel comfortable. I think it can be done; we'll see.
Equipment Review
88 Toyota Truck
This vehicle has 74,000 miles and is averaging 24 mpg, and has been nothing but reliable. If you cannot get somewhere, it is not the truck's fault. I have replaced the clutch master cylinder (a common and easy repair), and I recently changed the front brakes. I turn the key, it starts. There is a small patch of dulled paint on the passenger side door, and both the bumpers could use a can of $.97 Wal-mart black spray paint. The alternator needs to spin all day to recharge the axillary battery, but with the solar panel and rationing, we do not need to drive at all. The topper is slightly leaky, but this is minimized by closing the windows completely. It has never been "too cold." The modular mattress pad is essential to routine cleaning and drying. The black topper heats up nicely in the morning. A bungee system will need to be implemented to maximize organized storage.
Timex: cheapest watch you can buy (used)
It cost half a pint of vodka, and is very easy to scratch. I traded it for a new one, which I scratched immediately. It takes a 4 hour window to change the date. It always thinks that there are 31 days in the month. The "easy-replace" band has nubs to assist in compressing the pins. The nubs wore through the strap, and its getting ready to fall apart. The band was free.
Crocs Shoes
Open shoes are essential to preventing foot rot. I got mine for $1 and they are 2 sizes too small. They are very slippery on wet surfaces. Water comes up though the holes in the bottoms. They don't slow glass down, on it way up into my feet. They are awkward in sand, useless in mud. They are like house shoes for the homeless. I wear my old Timberland boots, whenever I have to walk very far. They do offer more protection and are easier to drive in that flip flops, though. And, they don't hold stink as bad as sandals. I rotate my socks, and every week, I choose the worst pair, and wash them in the the shower. You only get 10 minutes.
Devices (various)
2nd Generation Nano: Great battery life, but needs to have the music replaced after too many sloppy transfers. Everything that is on it now, was downloaded to my old laptop, as quickly as I could, when I was in Texas. Then I put it all on my old Ipod Nano2, then the computer died, and the Ipod was about to (after impressively extensive abuse including multiple immersions). I transferred everything from the disassembled Ipod to Lauren's Old computer one night. I let it "yes-to-all" everything, so I could let it run for the 8 hrs I slept, before leaving for Florida. Then that laptop had eventually crippling power cord problems. I was able to move everything, unsorted to Jeff's old Ipod Nano2. I keep it in a water proof box, so It still functions well, except at low temperatures. It uses a flash memory system that makes it more durable, but a high-density hard drive works under more circumstances.
5th Generation Ipod (Video): This was Lauren's primary Ipod for about 5 years, but then it was formatted when we put our webbing march on it. I recently erased those songs, and loaded a Rockbox onto it. Rockbox is an open-source, multi-platform, firmware, with a built in Gameboy/Gameboy Color emulator. Most games are difficult, if not unplayable, with a clickwheel, but I can play Freecell Solitaire as part of a Windows-ported Microsoft Entertainment Pack. I downloaded about 100 titles, and I'll try them when I get the chance to. Rockbox also allows you to drag-and-drop files onto the Ipod without the headache of Itunes (the proprietary apple "you WILL keep paying for what you already over payed for" music player and online store). So, I dumped all the songs off my ex-girlfriend, Emily's old Compaq desktop. I had some rare songs, maybe I'll sort them out someday.
Olympus Stylus Touch Waterproof Camera with 5x zoom.
Bombproof. I use a 16Gb card that also has the boot.sys for hacking Nintendo Wii's, and some roms. The camera take a little while to turn on, and another little while to actually take a picture, but it has many helpful macros. I would still like it to have a viewfinder, but this is a GREAT camera. I'll try to post pictures on here someday. In the mean time, lots of them are on facebook.
LG100 Cell Phone
$.99, no touch screen, no keyboard, no blutooth, no internet, no camera, no games, no problems, whatsoever. I have it in a rubber case, with 2 quarters in behind it. It'll make one last call, even if its dead. (Or, I might end up drinking it)
Panasonic Toughbook CF-51
It was the latest thing when they were advertising the latest thing about 2 latest things ago. It is the semi-rugged model, with a rubber hard drive cradle and shock absorber and reinforced lid hinges. It was originally for school use, but was sold on e-bay for $300. With Windows 7, or optional downgrade to XP. I chose Xp, so it would just work most of the time. I found out that there is a driver issue with the DVD-R drive, but I didn't notice until now, because I don't own anymore CD's or DVD's. I may fix it someday. It is usually fast enough for me, but I did fill up the hard drive with movies. I put some of them on Lauren's external hard drive, but it stays about full. I am very cautious with the power cable, since that has been what most of my devices have died of, but so far this has not been and issue. Always bring a 3 to 2 prong adapter (or 2 for stacking) and some splitters and adapters to be able to fully utilize any electrical source. Be able to ask for an outlet, socket, or plug in various situations. Tienne un coma de torriente de electrica, por favor?
The laundry is washed and the last bit of it is drying. I hope to post this to my blog today, but maybe just "soon" Since, I am unable to blog as frequently as I like to, I may also start typing select passages from other journals and notebooks i have lying around. I also want to post Nassau county, NY's video of me running a red light on Long Island. I may post more pictures to the blog, but some people (some with metal roofs) have less that optimum internet connections. Remember 56k? FYI: I type these in Notepad, so get off my back about the spelling. And I may never get around to formatting this any better. What you see is what you get.
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