Time to move up to Portland

Labor Day seemed to mark the unofficial end of summer as I am now packing up to move to Portland. I spent this summer living in Eugene with my girlfriend Annie, and will check into our new apartment tomorrow afternoon. After looking at numerous apartments, we found one in a mixed-use building at the eastern edge of Hawthorne and within walking distance of Mt. Tabor. I will be going by myself tomorrow to unload a carload of our belongings and will then pick up a Wells Cargo trailer from my Uncle Milo in Clackamas so that Annie and I can use it for the furniture. We should do the bulk of the moving on Thursday, and hopefully focus on unpacking Friday.

Our apartment and overall location is a good fit for Annie and I. We were initially drawn to Northwest Portland, but higher overall costs made it just a little too expensive to live there at this juncture. Our neighborhood has plenty to offer and we are within walking distance of several local restaurants, coffee shops, a Fred Meyer, a New Seasons (think Whole Foods), and of course bars. I will take advantage of the bus stop that's just steps outside of the apartment and purchase a transit pass so that I won't have to mess with parking downtown when I need to go to class. This is exciting for me since while I have been a big advocate of mass transit and transit systems in general, I have typically only used them when touring major cities such as New York or Washington DC, but never routinely relied upon them.

I have been on the Family Activity Study mailing list for a few weeks and frequently have gotten messages about members of the research group flyering in various neighborhoods of Portland. I should get a few chances next week to roll up my sleeves and finally get involved in the project, meet some of my fellow researchers and classmates, and of course, make a little money. I know I am up to the task, although it's a little daunting knowing that from the emails that I am about the only person who hasn't been active yet.

On the not so exciting front in graduate school is the matter of paying for it. I still haven't received my Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) letter, and it's not entirely clear to me how many credits my tuition waiver will cover for each term. The other part of the how to pay for school equation is my GI Bill benefits. Portland State is a little different than CCSU was in that they require me to have a course listing sheet filled out and signed by my advisor each term, plus I have to give the Veteran's Office a copy of a paper form that I actually filed online. It seems rather behind the times, particularly when I was able to submit everything for CCSU electronically. As with any sort of payment for the government, I know I will get my benefits eventually and that in the meantime I will have to lean upon what I have in savings to help bridge the gap.