Today I go to Portland, tomorrow morning I go with my mom and sister to Vancouver, BC. I feel kind of stoopid that this will be my first time in the northwest's (southwest in Canada) largest and most international city. As an American I think it is easy to be limited to just thinking about Portland and Seattle in the Pacific NW.

Portland is awesome, and Seattle is pretty good, I think I am about to fall in love with Vancouver. I'm doing some research right now and I'm already getting a little bit antsy. I am kind of funny when it comes to cities. I really like to be in a place that is picturesque and where a lot of people bustle about; but I'm not huge on being a bustler, just an observer.

Eugene is an absolutely awful place to feel the way that I feel. At one point recently I got it in my head that I'd go to UBC but they only have a graduate architecture program. I need to do the undergrad thing first. It is funny that a city like Eugene which is boring and for the most part ugly has a good architecture school. Even the university campus isn't that great architecturally. Oh, except the Eugene Post Office was designed by an architect named Underwood.

I had a write a short paper about it. He also designed a whole bunch of other buildings for the federal government. Probably the most famous of those would be the lodge at Yosemite National Park. So I guess Eugene does have one or two interesting things going for it, but that just isn't enough for me.

This weekend is going to be an extended play date for Sydney. She's going back to Stephanie's house where she'll be able to reconnect with her big brother. Not really brother, but may as well be. I'm a little wary of seeing Stephanie though, I have to admit. I'm going to try and make it as brief as possible. This isolation has been really good for me. I don't want it to be undone.

So, goodbye for the weekend. I'll be back. Oh yeah, I think I'm also going to meet silly, that should be fun. I hope it isn't strange or awkward. Ha!

PS -- Gentle Reader, I apologize for the load times on the post office images. I didn't want them to be too small or over-optimized. Since this is my diary and not a commercial site I can do whatever I want. Yay!

PPS -- I also just remembered that Eugene will be getting a new federal courthouse. That is going to be a really cool building...of course, I can't find anything about it right now. Sheisse!