Oregon State Measure 60: No. School districts should be allowed discretion in determing what policies are best for their students.
Oregon State Measure 61: No. Judges should be allowed discretion in determining sentencing for crimes.
Oregon State Measure 62: No. Lottery proceeds currently fund job creation, economic development, and education. Funding those kinds of activities reduces the [...]
Archive for the ‘Portland’ Category
My election ballot: State measures 60-65
Posted in Politics, Portland on October 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My election ballot: State measures 54-59
Posted in Politics, Portland on October 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Oregon State Measure 54: Yes. A little bit of Constitutional clean-up that I’m glad we’re doing.
Oregon State Measure 55: No. Is pretending that the old district lines are still in force any less confusing a way to deal with redistricting than the current way?
Oregon State Measure 56: Yes. Living in a democracy has its responsibilities, [...]
My election ballot: State offices
Posted in Politics, Portland on October 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Oregon Secretary of State: Kate Brown (D). By default. Her two opponents are, respectively, an amateur and a naïf.
Oregon State Treasurer: Ben Westlund (D). Westlund’s opponent, Allen Alley, touts his business experience, but when I look at how his company, Pixelworks, was doing when he resigned as CEO—the stock price was down 80% over his [...]
My election ballot: National
Posted in Politics, Portland, USA on October 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Republicans deserve the broom.
United States President: Barack Obama (D)
United States Senate: Jeff Merkley (D)
United States Representative, 3rd District: Earl Blumenauer (D)
Seen in Portland
Posted in Portland on September 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A man in his late 50s or early 60s, sitting with stocking feet on a rocking chair on the porch of a Craftsman house on Southeast Salmon Street on a cool late-summer evening.
A traditional American scene, like something out of Norman Rockwell.
Except for how intently he was texting on his cell phone.
Con-doh!
Posted in Commerce, Portland on September 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The east side of Portland is littered with ugly two-story apartment buildings of early ’60s vintage. If you live in Portland, you know what I’m talking about: The long, low bricks; the rusted metal stairs; the fading pale paint; the ratty parking lot; the juniper bushes.
So some developer bought the interchangeable ugly apartment block at [...]
Fire down the road
Posted in Portland on September 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Few things are as bracing as leaving work in the evening, looking into the distance, and noticing a pillar of thick black smoke rising from the street you live on.
Fortunately for me, the fire was about two miles down the street from my house. And the wind was blowing south instead of east (sorry, Sellwood!).
Overmaking a point
Posted in Politics, Portland on September 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Seen this afternoon at The Original Pancake House: A guy wearing a Ronald Reagan t-shirt with a McCain/Palin button pinned to it, and carrying a copy of Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative.
I resisted the temptation to walk over to him and say: “Dude…you’re trying too hard.”
New Yelp! Reviews
Posted in Portland on September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have two new reviews on Yelp!:
Glowing Greens in Downtown
Bluefin Sushi Bar in Hollywood
A satisfying lunch
Posted in Food, Portland on August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The best, best, best, best, bestest thing about having my weekdays off work this week is that I can eat at Pine State Biscuits without waiting in line for an hour.
Returning to the Republic
Posted in Academic, Books, Portland on August 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
As an undergraduate, I took two runs at Plato’s Republic, neither notably successful. I am sure I know where to find the paper I wrote about it, and equally sure I would rather leave it where I have lain it.
Thanks to the fine folks at Multnomah County Library (full disclosure: I work for MCL, which [...]
Hot town, summer in the city
Posted in Life, Portland, Yardwork on August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One positive to riding home this evening on a packed, slow-moving TriMet bus in 102-degree heat while wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt: When I got home, weeding the shaded side yard in 90-to-95-degree heat for an hour and a half seemed like a vacation.
Was that one positive worth it? I’m not saying that. I [...]
Keeping Portland weird
Posted in Portland on August 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of the entertaining side effects of getting older is that I sometimes mishear things in amusing ways.
I could swear that I heard someone say “strange is in the air” (as opposed to the usual “change is in the air”).
What a lovely slogan for Stumptown that would be! “It’s springtime in Portland and strange is [...]
New Yelp! review
Posted in Portland on August 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have one new review on Yelp!:
Laughing Planet Cafe in Belmont
Weighty matters
Posted in Exercise / PTC, Portland, Texas on August 3, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I lived in Houston, the “fattest city in America”, for five years, and left three pounds lighter than when I arrived.
I have now lived in Portland, one of the “fittest cities in America”, for three years, and have gained 28 pounds.
The biggest difference I have experienced between the two cities is that in Houston there [...]
