Roaming the Rose City

Ugh.. fester

2008-05-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, back from "the City". Many many MANY thanks to Anne-Catherine and Nagui for generously playing host for the weekend, and thanks as well to MS HYLARY for coming and visiting me on Sunday.

Oregon FINALLY had it's primary Tuesday night. I was sad to see Steve Novick lose, but all around it was a great night for Democrats. Senator Walker does not get to be Secretary of State, which is a good thing.

Wednesday I attempted to take "the Hill" at OHSU on my bike. Got to Doernbecher before I felt like I was going to hurl, and it was time to walk from there. But, it certainly gives me a goal for the summer bike-commuting season.

Today I woke up and felt as though my sinuses were coated with concrete. No choice but to call in sick today. Hopefully sleep and Valencia oranges will get me straightened out.

Talk about a hiatus...

2008-05-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at my blog... the blog I haven't updated in 4 months.

I'm sitting the E terminal at PDX waiting for an hour to get on my plane, because I'm that chump that takes the 2-hours early thing seriously.

I've already started the unwise spending for my weekend to San Francisco. Actually it all started two weeks ago with some serious cash expenditures for my new bike (which, admittedly, is pretty bitchin'). But at the airport, I suddenly became the owner of books by Richard Dawkins and Hugh Laurie. I'll take poncey English quasi-authors for 1000, Alec (alright, Hugh Laurie isn't poncey, but still).

Anyway. 30 second recap on the last four months. Became a reserve police officer. Bought a condo. Almost sold the Jeep. Kept the Jeep (in defiance of all financial logic).

Fin.

Hi, Here I Am

2008-01-21T09:58:00.001-08:00

Yeah, so, turns out when things get busy, this falls to a lower priority. That's OK with me, it's not like anyone reads this thing anyway.

But, here I am. It's 0959 on MLK day, I just woke up (which is glorious) and will spend my day studying for my spanish class, writing this, watching the Blazer game, grocery shopping, etc. All at a leisurely pace. Sweet.

OK, a few things. The Presidential Race: First off, Fred Thompson, please stay in the race as long as you like, because you're jamming up Mike Huckabee's gears. Despite Mike being a pretty convincing populist, he's also clearly taken the crazy-train to crazy town.

Second, it's nice to see the Democratic race become a two-man (er, person) affair. Obama and Clinton, Clinton and Obama. Finkle and Einhorn. Whomever gets the nod, it's not the worst thing ever, but I'm pulling for the Senator from Illinois.

I'm about to watch the Blazer game that starts at 1100 PST. I'm hoping for a win here (they won over Atlanta in the pre-season) and some bolstering of our young team's road-wins record. Rip City will be back for sure if Roy, Aldridge, Pryzbilla et. al. make the playoffs.

Tried to go to 80's Video Dance Attack at Lola's Room this week, but that didn't really work out (abruptly canceled). Instead, I finally went to the Sandy Hut, the Jolly Roger (as an adult) and off again to the Space Room, where I crossed paths with Sarah X Dylan for the third time in basically a week. She likes the place and I live next to it, so I'm really not trying to stalk her. She did comment that she's now "in love" with Metric, who are effectively the greatest band ever. So that's pretty cool. Pretty bizarre that I found them by listening to the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) while working at a desk job in the London. My life is neat :)

Soldiers Singing From the Grave

2008-01-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

Found this on Rick's site. Bring a tissue.

The Race Is On

2008-01-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

I've added delegate counters on my page for the duration of the primary season. I just watched Obama and Clinton speak and heard Romney and McCain speak earlier.

First of all, the indication is that the dollars Romney poured into his campaign just didn't match McCain's obvious a) integrity and b) retail campaigning skills. As a moderate Democrat, if a Republican had to win this race, I think I'd take McCain (Giuliani is just a little too 911). Giuliani reminds me of a joke from Yellowknife, where I used to live. There are four seasons in Yellowknife. Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction. I don't know why :)

Obama gave a speech that, if you hadn't seen the first few lines, you'd thought he'd won. The man is a talented orator, and his style and brevity reminds me of another member of Congress from Illinois whose words have been quite immortalized in American history.

The Clinton "comeback" is not all that surprising, if nothing but from the impact of local media. Clinton's East-coast style and cadence are much less grating to the voters of New Hampshire than to those of Iowa, and I have no doubt that we will continue to see Clinton post good numbers in New England and adjacent states. However, as the race's swing south and too minority-heavy states, Clinton's union campaign will come up against Obama's natural appeal and obvious political talent.

I think the biggest story that no-one is talking about it the continued depressed turnout of Republican voters. Iowa and New Hampshire are both right-of-center states but the turnouts make it seem like Democrats beat them two-to-one. Here are the fingerprints of the George W. Bush Presidency. His negatives are rubbing off on the party proper. If I was a Republican strategist, I'd be wondering whether I just spent 100's of millions of donor dollars for nothing.

Speaking of donor dollars, keep an eye on Mississippi's race for the US Senate. Trent Lott's appointed replacement will be going up against a popular former governor, and Chuck Schumer's DSCC has WAY more money than a cash-strapped RSCC.

OK, enough politics. Back to the city I love :)

Happy New Years

2008-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR (and holy crap there is a lot to talk about).

OK - First of all, hello Britney Spears going completely off the deep end. We should all take a moment to give thanks that there is this person out there to spice up the front page of CNN every single day. Not to mention the HOURS of entertainment it gives me every week on Rick Emerson's show. Goddamn.

If you didn't know, the latest incident featured Ms. Spears barricading herself into her bathroom with her baby and a bottle of vodka. The Man came and took her to a hospital, where she's on a medical psych hold. With Britney, the hits just keep on coming.

Secondly, because I have a blog, I'm obliged to talk about the Iowa caucuses. I really wish Mike Huckabee was not so bent on placing the bible front and center in public policy, because from a taxes and economy standpoint, I like his message.

Three interesting points:

Firstly - Notable was the serious disparity in participation in the primaries. The Republican caucus had only half the participants of the Democrats. Even with the supposed evangelical swell of support for Huckabee, the R numbers were dwarfed by the D. A good sign for things to come.

Second - Ron Paul pulled 10%. I'm fascinated by this guy and his campaign and I'm glad to see the libertarian wing of the R's pulling some strength.

Third - Clinton. Yikes. I'd hate to have been a manager in her Iowa operation last night. When John Edwards is beating you with his general blah-ness (though I'll admit an impressive resume and message), you have not done what you need to do to sell yourself to the voters of middle-america. A woman will be President in my lifetime. Hillary Clinton, I suspect, will not.

This Is Why Portland Is Better Than Where You Live

2007-12-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

I just sat in a theatre and watched "The Big Lebowski" with a group of people, drinking beer and eating pizza. Goddamn this city is great. And it's only Thursday. W00t!

Now I'm watching a documentary called "The Bridge". It's about the phenomenon of people jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. These film-makers asked the city for permission to mount cameras to film the bridge over a year's time, but they didn't realize what their real intention was, to capture individuals jumping off the bridge. Evidently the rate of suicides is about 24 per year, so there is plenty of footage. The film also interviews the family members of suicides as well as people on the bridge the day that they jumped.

This is really interesting so I'm getting back to it.

You're the 100th Unique Viewer!

2007-12-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

Thats right! Someone out there is the 100th unique viewer of this blog. How sad for you.

So I've been feeling a little down the last few days. The holidays are of course a time of both happiness and sadness and are complicated for everyone, and I guess I'm just having the routine holiday blues. Never mind that I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with me life :)

BUT, I got a chance to see Juno last night with an old friend, and wow, what a film.

While the critics have a legit point in noting that the use of wise-cracks is a little heavy on the front end of the film, it quickly comes into its own and is just perfect in composition and balance. It makes you want to be these people, any of these people, even a 16 year old pregnant girl (mind you, being Ellen Page would probably be cooler than being most 16 year old pregnant girls).

Seriously, it's that good, with a soundtrack that is quirky and catchy and seems like every song was written for the film (though none were).

SEE IT

The Say That It's Christmas...

2007-12-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

So, it's the weekend before Christmas. The last month has flown by what with my new job and all. Lucky for me I took care of my Christmas purchases weeks ago via the interweb.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday! I'll be making cookies this weekend to bring in for the guys working over Christmas day!

Hard Candy, Anyone?

2007-12-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

So I just finished watching Hard Candy. The basic plot of the film is that a 14-year-old girl traps a pedophile and turns him around until he takes his own life. It stars Ellen Page (of Nova Scotia, Canada w00t!) who is now staring in Juno, which may prove to be the best movie of all time. Those of you less interested in indie films will also recognize her from the X-men franchise.

I'm not the first to say this, but that girl is scary good as an actress and, at age 20, has none of the BS issues that surround her peer group of "actresses". I will be patronizing her films for a long time coming I think.

Hard Candy itself will be burned into my brain for a long time. How warped it makes you feel, pitying the pedophile, cheering on the girl, cheering on the pedophile, disapproving of what she does, approving of what she does... and on and on. Around and around until you are emotionally spent.

Ugh.

Yikes, 4 Days Flies By

2007-12-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

So I went to the Portland Winter Hawks game last night. Man they are terrible. Something like a win-loss ratio of 32-5.

Some observations.

1) Hockey fights are awesome. There's something intellectually distasteful about wanting the blood-sport, but at the end of the night it seems like more of a ritual than anything else, and they're fabulously entertaining.

2) Hockey is fabulously more entertaining when you're watching it live. Ever watch hockey on TV? Just not a lot there unless you're very attached to one team. But live hockey is fast and visceral and just great.

3) (Minor League) Hockey's target demo is basically cub scouts. Yup, 7 to 12 year old boys eat it up from start to finish. They love everything about a hockey game. They were fun to watch.

Now I'm watching the Blazers battle for an eight-in-a-row victory against New Orleans. And I care. I think I may have become a dude. Sports? OK, here goes.

Call Scotland Barr!

2007-12-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

So I'm off to see Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags tomorrow night at the Mt. Tabor Legacy Theatre (which I can practically see from my house, goddamn I love living here). Why is that exciting? Firstly, because their name is great. Secondly, because I listened to their tunesation on iTunes and their myspace page and they sound like my kind of band. Finally, because I'm meeting up with a couple of brand new people whom I have never hung with before along with old friends. They are folks I met during SantaCon 2007 (see the recap post from a few days ago).

I'm excited. New people! Sweet.

It's Love in the Third Period?

2007-12-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

So, I have a first date that'll be (partly) at a Portland Winter Hawks game. Any of the 30 people who have read this so far have an opinion on event dates? Sports and other spectator events in particular? I'll find out the advantages and disadvantages soon enough I suppose.

Some of you may be aware that American Football is now broadcast in the US under the name "Football Night in America". Fewer of you will realize that this name derives from a long-running program in Canada called "Hockey Night in Canada".

So I present to you the best hockey song ever written. This is Corb Lund (who has a fantastic new album out called Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! which I can't stop listening too). The original is by Stompin' Tom Connors, a Canadian music legend.

He actually has a couple different last verses to this song. They're all genius. He does a live cover on at least one of his albums.

The other lyrics are:

Oh goodness me, FOX TV, where did you get your sight

Can't you keep track, the puck is black, that's why the ice is white!

And that big red glare you see up there, well we've seen that for years,

for heaven's sakes, all it takes is a couple dozen beers!

Genius. These lyrics reference the old FOX TV broadcasts of NHL hockey where they attempted to highlight the puck traveling across the ice, creating a blurred effect and seriously pissing off Canadian hockey fans.

Happy Wednesday!

Always Be Closing!

2007-12-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

So lately I've been gravitating towards the great film speeches. Two of the best are by the great Al Pacino.

First is Any Given Sunday.

The older I get (and to be fair, I'm not very old), the more accurate this metaphor gets. How small the difference between winning and losing! Especially when I watch my co-workers and see the spectrum of where people end up, you can see where people stop pushing.

And secondly, Alec Baldwin's performance in Glengarry Glen Ross (just put on in an excellent performance at Portland State University.

Beyond the obvious stellar cast of actors involved in this project, what impact this has! You cut it or your out. You want to be big, play big.

We're all just left wondering whether we can play big.

MAX Factor?

2007-12-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today the Trib ran an article about the security concerns on Portland's Tri-met transit system.

First, let me say that I have never personally witnessed any major issues of concern on Tri-met (other than the occasional loud people).

However, ever since living in London a few years ago, I have wondered whether the answer to Portland's transit conundrum lies in TFL's system. For those of you who haven't been, TFL runs their fares almost completely electronically. They use a scanner system much like access cards in buildings to record entries and exits from the system.

My thought is that perhaps a card system that had entry scanners on all MAX doors and bus front doors, and could be quickly verified by a handheld wireless scanner used by fare checkers, would massively increase the speed of fare checkers and allow them to cover ground quickly. That has to be coupled with zero-tolerance enforcement system wide. This means that after one ticket, an exclusion and an arrest for theft of service is appropriate!

In the meantime, how about some Tri-met and police joint stings. Pull a train into a station. Anyone on it without a valid fare is removed from the train and ticketed by the line of Tri-met checkers waiting for them. See how many warrant arrests you get from that.

A few of these kinds of checks at random on the system would get attention real, real fast.

We Have Computers & This Is What We Made

2007-12-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

You know how you can send hours on YouTube and just wander into random shit? Here's a great example.

Seriously, there have to be at least a dozen people who have done their own Arrested Development chicken dances? Is this where we've come?

Also, this is the YouTube journey that got me there.

Songs from Superbad -> Big Poppa -> Don't Trust the Police -> Interview with Emma Stone -> Interview with Ellen Page -> Hard Candy -> Juno -> Interview with Michael Cera -> Arrested Development -> Chicken Dances.

2007-12-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well. SantaCon 2007 is gone and done. What an adventure. My first SantaCon was a night to remember.

Here's the recap:

1100: Started at Rock Bottom. While sitting at the bar, a passer-by actually came in and asked my friend and I to take a picture with them. Jesus.

1200: Skidmore Fountain. There have to be 300 santas here at this point. Also about 15 easter bunnies. Someone just gave me a Budweiser in wrapping paper.

1300: Captain Ankeny's Well. There are elves outside shouting "What do we want? RIGHTS! When do we want them? SOMETIME SOON, but definitely before Christmas!". Seriously.

1400: Rialtos. Get a pool table before the flood of Santas. Robot santa is awesome. Chat with folks we met at Ankeny's. Get a phone number, they live in the neighborhood. Sweet.

1500: Heading to the Waterfront. Hey, a game of Santa Tug-of-war! We win! They're setting up a trebuchet, but we're already off to Jax's rooftop bar for another pint.

1600: Met up with friends at Jax. There's a girl straddling Santas and posing for photos. I'm not going to discourage her.

1700: Head to Pioneer Courthouse Square. Photo girl from Jax is now making out with other girl Santas.

1800: Some bar in "Vaseline Alley". Hey, free booze from a flask. Tastes like honey... mmm.

1900: We're running through Powells arm-in-arm with other Santas. Powell's people are non-plussed. Powell's people are cool. Also, what does plussed mean?

2000: My friend needs a moment to sit out, lets take a breather

2030: I'm at the Benson Hotel at a corporate christmas party (not mine). No one seems to question your presence when you are Santa. They gave me drinks and yes, they sat on my lap.

2100: OK, off to Casey's to join the rest of the Santa pack. Down to the dance floor. Hello, who are you? You're freaking cute, I know that.

2200: Voodoo Donuts. I've merged with a group of new people. Nobody actually bought a donut. Why are we here?

2300: CC Slaughters. Hmm... there seem to be a lot of guys in underwear in here.. oh wait. Santas everywhere. Time to head home soon.

Well, hello there!

2007-12-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Hello to all ya'll.

This is the first of a series of posts that I hope will become a routine occurrence for me. I haven't been too successful doing things like this in the past. Lets just see how this goes...