Furniture conquests

So, for the first few days of living in our new apartment we had very little furniture. We brought an air mattress with us from Michigan, so we had that from the beginning, but nothing else. (The air mattress is actually quite nice, despite its tendency to cause the sleeping people to roll to the middle during the night as it slowly deflates.) Slowly but surely, we are now aquiring furniture, bit by bit.

We've searched the normal avenues. We bought some stuff, like a lamp and nightstand, pretty cheap at Fred Meyer. We perused garage sales and craigslist, coming up empty handed except for an awesome deal on a TV. Goodwill got us a weird table that we turned into a TV stand for $7.

However, none of this comes close to our largest and most amazing acquisition: the free recliner. How did we do it, you ask? How did you get a comfy recliner, which have been going on craiglist for over $60 and are never seen at garage sales unless smoky and cat hair covered? Well, friends, the answer is simple:

We found it on the side of the road.

Yes, the side of the road. Coming from a college town, we knew that students will not pay to dump furniture at the appropriate place (the dump) and will leave their unwanted goods outside their apartments come move-out. As it is the season, I suggested we take a drive through the student areas, and lo and behold, a beacon appeared on a side street. Our free chair! Blue grey, clean, with only a small piece of duct tape holding together a small tear in the back. We debated over it for awhile (I was hesitant- was someone actually throwing this away? Were they just moving it?) but Aaron pressed on. We maneuvered it into the back of the Golf (barely) and drove home with our loot. It matches quite nicely with our office blue carpet and office blue office chairs. You can see it in the pictures below; I'm sitting in it.

Anyhow, work has been good. I'm too tired to update about my first two days, but I did manage to make it through a 2.5 hour board meeting tonight without getting too bored. I'm learning a ton about mortgages and affordable housing financing. Tomorrow will probably bring more reading and meetings...

~Allison

Our quest for cheap groceries

BudgetScreenshot
Originally uploaded by amg_quail.

A large part of being a Vista involves trying to survive on not a lot of money. Allison and I are way more fortunate than most in that we're sharing an apartment; also, we don't have a car payment or other big expenses that would eat up our living stipend. That being said, we still want to be as frugal as possible. Consequently, we've started a groceries budget so we can keep track of our monthly grocery expenses. It's just expenses because our monthly stipend is fixed and we know what that is already. I have a feeling that the look of the budget will change as we get better at this, but right now it's essentially an Excel file that shows every trip we make to the grocery store itemized into basic food groups, like dairy, fruits and vegetables, and household items. Hopefully we can keep track of any variations in our spending, and, assuming we save our receipts, look back on what we've bought and what we're eating. The picture is a screen shot of our first three trips to the store in budget format.

The other really cool thing we've discovered since living here is the WinCo grocery store across the street from out apartment. They have an absolutely amazing bulk foods section! We were told WinCo is the cheap grocery store in town, and it's true, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is both cheap and NICE. Bulk foods save on packaging, which saves us money and saves the environment. We even did some comparison shopping between brand name goods, private label goods, and the bulk foods, and hands-down bulk foods came out on top. Here's to WinCo!


Here's our loot!

A road trip, in pictures

The great road trip from Bay City, Michigan to Corvallis, Oregon began on August 16th. We drove from the mid-Michigan east coast to Minneapolis in one day, stopping for pasties and ketchup along the way. In the past, we've taken the southern route through Chicago or the most direct route - the Badger across the lake. This time we took the more scenic, cheaper, and less stressful northern route. Even though it took longer, we arrived in Minnesota ready to eat some delicious fajitas with my family and enjoy a visit from my best friend, who dropped off some tunes for us to enjoy on our trip.

The next morning, August 17th, brought us through southern Minnesota (corn and flat) into eastern South Dakota (more corn, flat, but with a corn palace!) As you can see to the left here, I'm giving a thumbs-up to Mitchell's corn palace. In reality, the corn palace was a disappointment. I'd heard so much hype I was expecting an entire building made out of corn. Alas, it was not to be. Oh well. It's free, and has nice bathrooms, so it might be worth a stop if you're out there. At this point, we also spent much time discussing where exactly the Great Plains began. In my opinion, the number and placement of trees is the deciding factor. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Later that day we made the first of our national parks stops at the Badlands. That was a pretty sweet place, let me tell you. At first I was put off by the $15 entrance fee, but Aaron and I got the year pass for $50, which with this visit and a few others we plan on making should pay for itself and then some. And, we're contributing to the national parks, who probably need a few bucks anyhow. The Badlands were awesome, and here are some pictures to prove it:


Aaron and I darkly stand in front of some scenery. I guess this one didn't turn out so hot, but it was breathtaking.



As we were driving through the Badlands, we could see storms brewing for miles. It was amazing to see so far across the flat land and see the rain falling in sheets probably 50 miles away. The coolest part though was when the sun cut through the light mist in the Badlands to form the most intense double rainbow I've ever seen. I love these pictures.



That night we stayed in Sundance, Wyoming. It was a small town, named for the Sundance Kid. No, it's not where the film festival is held, we found out. It is also home to overpriced Best Westerns. Our first night in a hotel of many, I'm afraid. The continental breakfast was nothing to write home about either. We didn't spend anytime exploring Sundance, so let us know if you do and there's anything notable.

Our driving schedule was pretty solid the whole trip. We left around 8 in the morning, after bringing the bikes back down from our hotel room (we don't leave our babies outside, no sirree), strapping them on the back, and loading the lil' Golf back up. We'd drive for 12 to 14 hours, stopping to switch drivers, gas up, and eat approximately every 2 hours. We had an awesome schedule going and were a pretty good team navigating and acting as rearview mirror for each other. Except when I broke the car (not really), but more on that later. Look at us, driving!



So, the next day we made it to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial. We spent almost two hours there, as I am an American history nerd and Aaron loves Native American history. We bought books (surprise, surprise) and I really enjoyed seeing the actual place that I had read about so much.


Here's the site of the "last stand"; where the white markers are, a soldier fell. These markers were placed in the late 1800s.


On the other hand, the American Indians who fell in battle here were not commemorated until very recently. Red marble markers were placed in 1999 where native warriors were killed, equal in size and shape to the white marble markers of the white soldiers. In 2003, a memorial was erected (seen above) for all of the warriors lost at this site. As you might know, this park used to be known as Custer National Memorial or something like that, but it was recently changed to reflect a more neutral title. Late but important steps in remembering a balanced view of history...

Montana was a long state, let me tell you. We made it to Deer Lodge, Montana by that night, which is about an hour from Missoula. The night before in Sundance I drove through some foothills in the dark and was freaked out, so we decided to call it quits before dark. Deer Lodge, we discovered, is the second oldest city in Montana, housed the first prison, and is very close to where my sister spent the summer with Project Vote Smart.

The next morning is when I broke the car. Ok, I didn't really...well, we're not sure. Basically, after I filled the car up with diesel (it's a diesel, I didn't break it that way) the "check engine" light came on. The owner's manual was decidedly unhelpful, but we've driven over 1,000 miles since then and have an appointment for tomorrow morning at the local VW dealer.

Anyhow, we made the rest of the trip in one day, from Deer Lodge, Montana, through Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, to make it to Corvallis. Some highlights from that Saturday:



In Idaho, we got this awesome shot of the mountains and bikes. The mountains were huge and tree-covered, and I was glad Aaron had this part of the route. It was so curvy and steep...man, I am not cut out for that type of thing. Craziness. We went by many mountain passes that were over 6,000 feet - not super high, but still.



Something that neither of us realized is that eastern Washington is full of nothing. Like, more nothing than South Dakota. It's high desert, dry, pretty flat, and desolate. We went 70 miles without an exit. We did see this dust storm thing though, just like in the movies.



But soon, the air became sweeter, the people more friendly, and the sales tax non-existent because we were in Oregon. This is the bridge that takes you over the Columbia River into the land of Oregon.


Once in Oregon and heading toward Portland, we drove along the Columbia River Gorge. This picture is of the eastern end; as we drove westward, it became more beautiful, mountainous, and tree-ey.



I have to say, the worst part of the drive was easily the last 90 minutes from Portland to Corvallis. The traffic was fine, the road was straight, but I was just so sick of driving and I wanted to be in my apartment so badly. My spirits soared when I saw this sign: Highway 34 to Corvallis! We were only twenty miles away.



Ok, you probably can't read this, but it says "Entering Corvallis Population 53, 165". Revise that, folks -it's 53,167 now!!!

We got in to our apartment, unloaded the car, and headed out in search of food. We discovered Pizza Hut across the street and a grocery store next door. (I have since fallen in love with WinCo and will post about that later. It's amazing, in that way that I love now that I'm poorer than I was in college: it's cheap.)

I know I promised you guys pictures of the apartment, so I'll include a few now.We want to make whole other posts on our awesome furniture finds, food budget, and the beloved WinCo, so I won't put too many details.


Me in the living room.

Aaron in the kitchen, drinking orange juice.

The bedroom, a mess.

Basically, you walk in the door to the living room. Take a few steps in, and you've got the kitchen on your left and the living room on your right, connected through the island. The bathroom door is up to your left-most upper corner, and the bedroom is next to the living room. I don't know if that makes sense, but come visit and you'll see!!!

Ok, that's all for now. Big first day of work tomorrow, should hit the sack. We'll keep you updated on how that goes, along with some other posts!

~Allison

Intro to Aaron

Hey all, I'm Aaron, the other half of the Allison/Aaron Vista team. This is my first time maintaining a blog, so bear with me if things aren't as smooth or user-friendly as they should be.

So, yes, Allison and I have just moved to Corvallis, Oregon to serve as Americorps Vista volunteers. We both graduated from the University of Michigan (GO BLUE!) last spring, and hoped to better our country and ourselves by committing to the fight against poverty. For those of you who might not know, Vista stands for "Volunteers in service to America;" members devote a year of their lives to service in low-income communities, living at the poverty level alongside those they serve. Our work is done through non-profit organizations of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. For example, I am working for Corvallis Neighborhood Housing Services, whose focus lies primarily in affordable housing issues. However, we do provide a range of services, and my particular area is in the microenterprise program, which helps low-income entrepreneurs start small businesses. There are other types of work that Vistas do, including the broad categories of family-strenthening, homeland security, asset development, etc.. I can explain more later, but the idea is that Vistas serve in many different kinds of organizations all with the intent and mission to eliminate poverty. The other key feature of being a Vista is that we perform "indirect" service, meaning much of our work is capacity-building or administrative, rather than "hands-on" service, like serving food in a soup kitchen.

I should have more to say about my specific job, but I have to admit my first day is TOMORROW! I'm a little nervous, because I've never worked in a position like this before, and I worry that I'm underqualified. I graduated from the Ross School of Business at UofM, but something tells me there is a sizeable gap between school and work. We'll see. At any rate, I am very excited about this opportunity, and I'm sure I'll have more to say tomorrow night.

Also, at a future date, I plan to write a bit more about Americorps, like my experience at a four-day orientation session in Provo, Utah, last week. Check in later for more about that. In the meantime, tonight I have to iron my clothes for tomorrow (this sort of feels like the night before the first day of school, hehe!).

-Aaron

Oregon Trail, VISTA style

Hello from Corvallis! After over a week of traveling, we are finally back in Corvallis, Oregon and starting to set up shop. I'm Allison, one of two Americorps*VISTA members serving at Corvallis Neighborhood Housing Services. The other is Aaron, who will introduce himself later, I guess. This first post should give you some background about who we are and what the hell we're doing as college graduates moving across the country for endless toil and poverty-level wages.

We both graduated from the University of Michigan in April of 2006. Allison graduated with an interesting but unemployable degree in American Culture (I didn't want to be employed anyway, so it doesn't matter.) Aaron graduated with a degree in Business Administration, intending to go to law school. We've been dating for almost four years, both love cycling and other outdoor sports, read voraciously, and bleed maize and blue.

I was, and am still, planning to go to graduate school for a PhD in American History. However, I knew a few people who had "taken a year off" before grad school - my friend Sally in Lutheran Volunteer Corps , a professor in Jesuit Volunteer Corps. A lot of my professors told me it would be a good idea to take a break from school, with the added benefit of "real world experience" and maturity contributing to a stronger application when I decided to go to grad school later. I looked into a few programs and eventually stumbled on a few Americorps*VISTA postions through the Americorps website. Aaron also started looking at this, even while interviewing for corporate soul-sucking jobs (hey, if I'm writing it, I can insert my editorial comments.) Eventually we both found positions all over the country that we applied for, him having long been convinced of the moral benefits but not necessarily sold on the practical ones. Long story short, we were both accepted at amazing positions in Corvallis, Oregon, and a week and a half ago we made the trek from Michigan to Oregon in a Volkswagen Golf with three bikes strapped on the back. If you saw us and we were going 40 miles an hour through the mountains, it's because I am afraid of mountains. Sorry for holding you up, but I can't believe road engineers actually think you can drive safely on those curvy roads. Can you tell I'm from the flat Midwest?

I'll stop here; soon we'll post a retrospective of our cross-country trip, hijinks from our preservice orientation, and highlights from our shiny, new, unfurnished digs.

Peace out friends.

~Allison