Eugene and I
I am back in my office. Got back into Eugene and saw that Hoobastank was in town and was also quickly reminded of the things that make Eugene fun. Today I got a funny article emailed to me, check this out:

Oregon profs wield influence with Bush
EUGENE, Oregon (AP) -- Over the years, the University of Oregon has developed a reputation as a hippie haven, home to Hacky-Sackers, Frisbee-throwers and anti-globalism activists. But tucked away in a bucolic corner of the campus is a group of education professors whose work has been widely influential and found favor with the Bush administration.

Full Story at: CNN Online

I loved the opening part of that article, very descriptive of this area. Speaking of descriptive, I thought since I came in early I would spend a minute and tell everyone about my office here. The Greek Life Office has three full time staff, one Advisor (me), the Director (Shelley) and an Office Manager (Audra). It is a cool set up and I am enjoying the atmosphere. I don't even have a cubicle, we all just share a big space and I like that. The open air environment is fun and easy to put some head phones on and work without disturbances, or just be available for the students.

Here are some office shots:

No I did not take a side job working for AT&T. I do not have a regular phone, just this headset. At first I hated it but now I love it.

Of course a picture of Shelley's cats, and her famous jar of marbles. Ask me for the story about the marbles.

We are an Apple office, I love it! We have 5 flat panel iMacs, one old iMac, 3 G4 towers, one iBook and two Powerbooks. How sweet!

We are located in the student union and in a very high traffic place.

I am loving working in the office, and surprisingly missed the place more then I thought while I was gone. Well back to the grind. I have a busy next few days getting caught up with Oregon work and preparing for my presentations at the Sigma Lambda Beta International Convention next weekend in Orlando.

Alright, off to do that thing called work.

Fair Pics
I know it has taken me longer then usual to post, not having high speed internet at home is a bigger hinderance then I thought. I know I am spoiled. I had my Bradley interview today and it went well, now I am in Chicago and tomorrow I fly back to the West Coast. I wanted to get these fair pics out soon, so here they are.

So here is the deal, I went to the Oregon Country fair last Saturday (see earlier post). I was surprised to find the fair was really cool. It was not overly political like I thought it would be, it was just a big happy hippie fest of people being "free" or whatever they were being. I won't write a lot here, just make notes on the pictures to describe what happened. There are some "questionable" photos so please use discretion when viewing. I do not want to censor my own photos... I need to "express" myself. Okay enough hippie talk, here goes...

The entrance was filled with weird people and of course... a Welcome sign.

At the entrance I got confused and thought it was costume required... but it was costume optional.

Like anywhere in Oregon bands set up at each corner or open space, with their own hippie ontourage.

Amoung all the veggie booths I had to look and look for meat. Two times now Marty's (Owner) Peruvian food booth saved me at Eugene events.

Gypsy and fairy life was in the air, booths, costumes, everything!

Lots of the people in costume mocked mainstream culture. There was a group of people dressed in all white mocking the tennis life... Muffy shall we play a match after tea?

Family Nudist Park... not that a nudist park is not shocking enough... but one for the entire family?

"What will Bush do Next?" Options on the wheel included illegal invasions, deforesting for oil, and a few other top hippie agenda items.

No hippie nation is complete without a drum circle and crazy dancing.

Bands... bands... bands. Everywhere you looked there was a band asking for money.

Surprise! Another band...

This band had home made intruments.

This guy was telling people to live like native americans... he made a fire with two sticks, but he had a metal hammer in his belt amoung other metal manufactured tools. Yeah real native like there Mister.

Nirvana Tubes: you hold this tube to your ear and hear what the trees do. Hello... put any long tube with a curve on it and you get a funny sound. Maybe some one has never been to the ocean and picked up a shell?

Kilts with cargo pockets were all rage at the fair this year, and also parrots and pirates.

This huge chess set was cool.

I am betting this guy is a stock broker and she is the manager of a Doctors Office... this is their weekend outfit.

Wings of any type were very much in style. I thought about getting Novali a pair... but these were only made in sizes for adults.

Lots of young girls with old guys...

"The Devil is Cool!"... ah... and they wonder why regular people don't like them?

Big Asian dragon, that was very cool.

The rest of the dragon...

His sign said, "The Emperor Wears no Clothes." (he had George Bush mask on)

Topless fairies and mermaids everywhere.

They had a huge disk of ice out there.

You were supposed to touch this one spot, and by the end of the day there would be a hole there. Cool.

Mines and performers all over the place...

Another band... with a guy that played the spoons... now that is talent.

Got to have the silver lady.

Crazy costumes and stilts.

The entrance had some cool big "art" and of course tons of bike people rode there... i mean since gas is evil.

Bush doing the peace sign, shirt says, "Bet You'll Vote This Time Hipppie." I had to get it.

So that was the fair adventure... wow that was a long post. See why it took so long for me to complete. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The Potty Pic
My Albion Interview went well, I got most of my errands done I needed to get to while in Michigan, and I got to drive a cool rental car. But what made this trip even better was spending time with Novali. We had fun, a trip to the park, our little local eating spot, visiting with her grandpa, and playing at the house and of course watching Lion King.

Big smiles.

Tamara doing her hair.

Novali, her grandpa Angel and mami out in the nice Chicago weather.

She went potty at the restaurant so I got her some cake.

At the park near the house getting some sun.

Her favorite slide at the park.

Swinging.

Mom came and joined her.

Novali tried to push her mom.

Novali fell off a scooter at day care. She says she did not cry, cause she is a big girl.

Always sitting nice and proper.

Not proper with her food though...

When she gets older... she will never forgive me for putting this on the web.

She loves to play dress up, here seen in her Mexican outfit Tio Andy got her.

I am glad I am still getting time with her this summer even though I am far away. I will be back in a little over again, that time with my family and my abuelitos from Bolivia. Can't wait!
For those keeping track of my whereabouts... Yes I am in Peoria. Yes the city is really cool. Yes Bradley put me up in a really cool hotel (Jumer's Castle). Yes I loved meeting the students today. Yes I am ready for tomorrow. Yes I am confused about which job I want more now...