Heh. Good luck, Hil! I was just thinking something the same about my own wakefulness, except there's no daylight here. And it's not quite so late.

I want to move to Portland. They have a vegan minimall. A vegan grocery store, vegan bakery, vegan clothing store, and tattoo parlor that only uses vegan vegetable-based inks, all in one strip mall.

(Yes, this is a dumb reason to want to move somewhere. But I'm sick of recipes that require me to go to a zillion different stores. Though I've gotten pretty good at remembering that the good brand of margarine is at Trader Joe's, the egg replacer for baking is at Safeway, and silken tofu is at the little convenience store in the basement of one of the dorms. (Took me forever to find that silken tofu.) I don't use the egg replacer too often -- soy milk + apple cider vinegar is usually tastier and cheaper -- but there are some recipes that require it. Soy milk + apple cider vinegar leads to light and fluffy baked goods, which is great for cupcakes, but not so great for things like cinnamon rolls that are supposed to be denser.)

I can think of a lot of reasons to move to Portland

Portland is a pretty freakin' awesome place. No biotech jobs there, though. For me, not for you. I have no idea of the math jobs there.

Or you could just move to Columbia Heights! Not near the Trader Joe's, but near Sticky Fingers!

Or you could just move to Columbia Heights! Not near the Trader Joe's, but near Sticky Fingers!

True, but pretty horribly placed for getting to Foggy Bottom without a car every day. Also, fairly certain my mother would freak. Also also, giant rats.

As for math jobs in Portland, there's Portland State and University of Portland. Also Concordia, but they're a Christian school that I think might require a statement of faith from employees. (I'm not positive about that, but a lot of the smaller Christian colleges do.)

Oh, details details. (Can I say how glad I am that Seattle does not have mutant giant rats everywhere? If they are here, they hide themselves satisfactorally). There'll be a Target there soon!

OK, yeah. No easy way to GW. But those "cowvine" bars, with oatmeal and faux "creme" (does "real" "creme" have any real cream in it anyway? Probably not) are sooo good.

does "real" "creme" have any real cream in it anyway? Probably not

Until about 15 or so years ago, the "creme" in Oreos was lard mixed with sugar. The "creme" in Twinkies still is. (It wasn't, for a year or two, and then they switched back. I'm still annoyed at myself for not trying one during the year or so that they were vegetarian.)

I am extremely phobic of rats. To the point that I had a panic attack and hyperventilated during the scene in Interview With The Vampire when Tom Cruise takes a bit out of one. (There are a few Buffy scenes that I still haven't watched with my eyes open. And one Angel scene that left me shivering for a good half hour.) I cannot live in places with giant rats.

I kind of want to go on one of those foraging tours of Central Park, where the guy shows you which plants in the Ramble are edible. Sounds neat. I'd worry about pollution and chemicals, though.

I really don't want to be at the airport. I really don't want to be gone until Feb. 24.