About Me

My name is Andrew and I walk around Portland, OR (or a city near you). I’m trying to write about one post a week concerning walks I’ve done – or other things I find interesting.

Beyond walking, I enjoy thinking about urban spaces, public transportation, trains, and bikes – as well as cooking, hiking, and camping

Some of my side coding projects live here: https://github.com/blumdrew (they are all unfinished, most of them are old, and some of them aren’t very interesting)

Everything you ever wanted to know about me (but nothing personal)

City I live in: Portland, OR
Date of Birth: 15 February 1996, I’m an Aquarius
Place of birth: Meriter Hospital in Madison WI
Commemorative plaque installed? NOT YET
Where I grew up: Madison, WI
2014 graduate of Madison West High School
2018 graduate of Ohio State University (BS in Physics)
Where I worked before being funempolyed: Nelnet, Inc
Senator I admire: None! I don’t like any of them!!
Current Senator I loathe: Ron Johnson
Girlfriend’s name: Olivia
Present pets:
- June B. Jones, Olivia’s beautiful sweet Norwegian Forest Cat
Siblings: Sarah (older and wiser)
Singing voice: Tenor?
Non-USA countries visited: Canada, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican City (yes it counts). I also rode on a train through Belgium
US States not visited: VT, ME, MS, AK, HI
Hair color: Auburn/brown with almost no Grey.
Eye color: hazel or brown, depends on the day
Number bikes owned in life: 4 (that I’ve purchased as an adult)
Present Bicycle: Trek Checkpoint, a cool retro 70s Bianchi, and a green utilitarian Bianchi that replaced my old purple Raleigh
Favorite fruit: blueberry
Favorite cookie: Chocolate Chip
% milkfat of milk: whole (rarely drink milk these days)
Primary Schools (all in Madison, WI):
- Franklin Elementary (K-2)
- Randall Elementary (3-5)
- Velma Hamilton Middle School (6-8)
Secondary Schools (all in State College, PA):
- Madison West High School (9-12).
Number of years I had to ride a bus to school: 6
Three songs I can’t help but sing along to:
- The Less I Know the Better by Tame Impala
- PPP by Beach House
- Should Have Known Better by Sufjan Stevens
Favorite Ice Cream vendor: Meyers Dairy in State College PA!
2nd Favorite Ice Cream vendor: Graeter’s in Columbus, OH
Favorite Ice Cream flavor: Mint Chip
Favorite “Scientific” Book: Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos
Presidential election votes: Clinton 2016 (yay..), Biden 2020 (yay..)
Sports I participate in: biking, walking, softball
Present weight: 200 pounds
Height: 6′ 4″
Most annoying question: “Do you play basketball?”
Favorite Seafood restaurant: NOT The Columbus Fish Market that’s for sure
Favorite month of year: June
Soap Opera that I used to watch: All My Children
Instruments on which I have been instructed: 2 (trombone, viola)
Programming languages I’ve used: Python, C++, SQL (does that count?)
Hours I work each day: about 0
Hurricanes I have lived through: none
Number of hours without electricity after Hurricane Bob: also none
Number of graduate advisors: 0
Most embarassing record album purchase: Year of the Gentleman: Ne-Yo
Number of kindergarten classmates for whom I have e-mail addresses: 0
Time of day born: 8:30 in the morning
Preferred method of commuting: Walking, but most of the time I bike to the bus stop
Time alarm clock is set at: 6:30 AM
Religion: Catholic (allegedly)
Pet Peeve: grammatical errors in the newspaper
Undergraduate GPA: 3.26
Number of Ds received as undergrad: 0
Number of shows seen on Broadway: depends on your definition of Broadway – but one in New York
Last show I saw in a NYC theater: The Book of Mormon. I liked it
Last show I saw in a theater: The Book of Mormon. I liked it
Last movie I saw in a theater: Oppenheimer, immediately after Barbie
Favorite Living Mystery Writer: Agatha Christie
Favorite National Park: Olympic
Least Favorite Highway: I-405 in Portland (or I-5 in Portland, or I-90/94 in Chicago, actually I hate all highways within city limits)