Keep Portland Weird

So today I went to Comcast to get a cable box and an internet modem. I walked into what seemed like an old peoples home where they took my name and I joined a group of old folk with their eyes glued to a giant screen with cops chasing people across Alaska. Not a Doctors Surgery but a TV waiting room for Heaven. Not a whisper was heard. Eventually my name was called, they gave me a bunch of Comcast stuff in a pretty red bag, and I headed home. That's where the fun started. After about 4 phone calls (have a lovely day!) and no bad sitcoms on my gigantic and ludicrously cheap 43" flat screen from Beavertron, I realised the cable point behind the telly looked rather dodgy, I took the cable to another outlet in the room, and hey presto, there was MTV Cribs in glorious HD. 180 channels and nothing on, literally. BBC World here plays Star Trek & Battlestar Galactica - looks like no British Crime and no Mr Darcy, what the? Then came the internet hook-up, and again, with no instructions at all, I had to speak to 3 people to get the net working at a mad high speed, without the need for an NBN - that's you Australia. Tonight I negotiated my way round the homeless types returning their carts full of empty beer cans, and just the plain old weird traversing around my local supermarket, Fred Meyer, where I bought a bunch of stuff, some of which is cheaper than Australia, and some of it not. But if we want really expensive, we head up to Zupan's Market, think of food shopping on Rodeo Drive. But this place really grows on you. There is plenty of weird, but plenty of good too, like the many local Hash House Harrier Groups - last night I walked over 10,000 steps - gasp! A great way not only to meet the locals (and make some good friends), but attract a Portland Cop, followed by a Portland Fire Engine as we barbequed some hot dogs and drank some beers, in a park, at 10 o'clock last night. The fire guys just wanted to know what beers we had. Yes, it's just what we do round here in Portland. And if you ever get bored, you can go and join the queue at Voodoo Donuts at 3am (the donut joint that never closes, and the queue never ends). We hear the maple and bacon donut is a winner, but somehow that might have to wait for another night. If we didn't have a home in Brisbane, and a home in Annagassan, this might just be another one.