This is the second time in a week that I have spent most of the day in downtown Portland.

The first time was on Wednesday.  The basic plan was that, while he was in class, I would have a long and leisurely afternoon at the library.  I had some books on hold that I wanted to pick up and I wanted to take some time to really browse–you know, take the time to actually look through the books instead of just grabbing and taking them home to sort through later.

Yes, I could have easily done this on my own while Will was at work but I didn’t want to walk to (and from) the train station in the rain.

So, I drove in with Will and we found a (coveted) five hour parking spot up on the PSU campus.  I was tasked with feeding the meter while Will was in class.  This spot? Was about ten blocks away from the library.  I walked those ten blocks through the rain and…the library? WAS CLOSED.  CLOOOOSSSSSEEEEEED.  I may or may not have growled very loudly and angrily shook my fist at the Closed sign.  I’m not admitting to anything but it is a distinct possiblity.

Defeated and irritated (and wet) I hiked all the way back up to the PSU campus and parked myself in the Student Union.  And there I stayed until it was time to meet Will at his last class–totally forgetting about the meter because I thought he had told me that he was moving the car to his friend’s (free) parking space.

Thankfully we did not get a ticket (unless there is one being sent in the mail) but I was still pretty upset about the whole day.

1.  Wanted to avoid walking so far in the rain (when I’m supposed to be taking it easy to ward off any infections that might be trying to get me after last week): FAIL.  Walked almost 30 BLOCKS (over the course of the day) in the rain.

2.  Wanted to have a long leisurely day at the library: FAIL.  Library closed for new equipment installation.

3.  Wanted to help Will avoid a parking ticket by feeding the meter while he was in class: FAIL.  I mis-read the text message he sent me about his moving the car to his friend’s building and (free) parking space.

4.  Wanted to work outside of the house.  Okay, this one I actually did because–with the library closed and nothing on hand to read but blogs (which I got through pretty quickly), I had nothing else to do but concentrate on work stuff.

Today I came back in to downtown with Will with the same plan. I don’t know if I was trying to make up for Wednesday’s ongoing debacle or what.  But the plan was, again, a leisurely day at the library (we had thought we’d have friends come up this weekend but they decided to come up next weekend instead.  Don’t get me started.).  So we drove in and the only spot we could find to park? Was even FARTHER away from the library (irony: there were PLENTY of parking spaces close to the library but then Will’d have to hike through the rain to class).  So we parked, paid and I hiked all the way through downtown (no joke, we parked at the very top of the PSU campus, close to the bridges) through the rain to the library.

So my plan to avoid walking in the rain? FAIL. For the second time in a week.  Today, though, I’m much cheerier about it.

Thankfully the library was open but because it had been closed for three days, the place was a MADHOUSE.  (I’m very caps locky today)  It was loud and crowded and while the new self check machines are teh awesome, it was impossible to find a quiet place to sit down and look through all of the books I wanted to look through.  The tables were pretty much full.

I did, however manage to pick up the books I had on hold.  One of them is Julia Child’s The Way to Cook.  In Hardcover.  It weighs roughly a kqatrillion pounds.  And I had to carry it back across downtown along with about forty pounds of other books.  While it was pouring rain.  And, again, somehow this does not bug me as much today as it did yesterday.

This might be because today I was smart and I took the streetcar back up to PSU and cut my walking in the rain time down by quite a lot (even if I did get off the streetcar a stop early).  I had  lunch with Will, dropped my (many pounds of) books in the car and now I’m parked at a Starbucks.

I have always been adamant about how much I DISlike Starbucks.  It comes from learning how they roast their coffee and how they invented their own lingo that messed up all of the other coffee shops and how these places are freakin’ everywhere now (there are FOUR within a mile of my apartment) and, if we’re being honest, spending years working at a non-Starbucks cafe and having to deal with customers who insisted that a macchiato does too have flavoring and lots of milk in it (for the record? IT DOESN’T) or who looked at me like I was insane when they’d order in Starbucks lingo and I’d have to confirm what they wanted in real coffee language.

Anyway…

This Starbucks?  Is kind of awesome.  It isn’t crowded.  The tables are nicely spaced (aka far apart).  The music is a little loud but that might be because I’m right under the speaker.  I’m parked at a back booth–a booth that has an electrical outlet built right into it.

So I’m parked here with my tiny caramel non-coffeed frapu-something and typing away on my netbook.  All I need now are thick, black rimmed square (or rectangular) glasses, badly died hair and some Chucks and I’ll officially be a hipster.

Honestly though, I kind of like it in here.  It’s warm and bright and sure the music is annoying but its dry and mostly quiet and everybody is doing their own thing.  I have always been a fan of being alone while amongst other people and this place is very conducive to that.  If any of the (4) Starbucks in my neighborhood were this nice I might hang out in them more.  Or at all.

I have to say that, in spite of not being able to avoid walking many blocks in the rain and in spite of having to carry what felt like double my body weight in library books back across town, this has been an okay day.  It’s been really nice to get out of the house and spend some time in the world.  I’ve been very hibernatey lately and this is a nice alternative to that.

Plus, I got a bunch of work done yesterday and that always cheers me up.