Behind the times

Alright.  I'm behind on blogging, I know that, you know that, I'd guess both of you who read this blog know that.  It's well known.  Be that as it may, I am putting fingers to keyboard in an attempt to catch the hell up.  I'll have to resort to bullets.

• The Edith Green Wendell Wyatt Federal Building.  This 1970's era high rise is getting a green make-over. Actually, make-over isn't the right word.  This is a full re-do.  They have taken the skin off, taken the walls out, the plumbing out, the electrical out, in fact, they have taken this building down to studs - or steel girders.  It looks odd, that's for sure, when you realize that it used to be a fully functioning building a couple of months ago.  I'll try to keep up with the progress of this one...  Oh, and if you are having trouble placing it, it is right across from the cop shop on SW 3rd and Madison (approaching the Hawthorne Bridge from the west side.)

• To spin your orientation around, next is a building going up on the long vacant lot in front of the Greyhound bus terminal.  It's right at the foot of the Broadway Bridge ramp, across Broadway from the main post office.  I don't know what it is slated to become, other than a high rise.  I'll check it out and keep you posted.

• Remember that long defunct Burger King on the corner of Broadway and Burnside downtown?  It's finally been torn down and yep, you guessed it, a high rise is going in there, too.  Most likely ground floor retail and condos above, don't you think?  Because, for god's sake, we don't have enough vacant condos downtown right now.  Jeez!  But, again, I'll check it out and let you know.

• The parking lot conversion to a plaza-style urban park went very well ~ I'm referring here to the lot on the South Park Blocks between Taylor and Yamhill.  It's called Director's Park and I don't know if that is because it is in front of the Fox Tower movie theater or if someone named Director footed the bill.  Zoe and Rob stayed in the Paramount Hotel on Taylor recently and I had the opportunity to enjoy the view from the 8th floor.  Very nice view, with one of my favorite buildings on the left, The Pythian.  

• That bloody damn streetcar!  The streetcar has come to the close in east side and roads all over are torn up.  Detours abound, delays are inevitable.  The funny thing about this (to me) is that if you dig down under many streets on the east side, you'll find cobblestones and streetcar tracks.  I observed this on NE 28th, right by Freddy's when they were doing some sewer work a couple of years ago.  There are streetcar tracks all over, from back in the day when hardly anyone had a car.  An ironic thing is that buses are far more practical, cheaper, and more flexible in terms of changing routes and responding to growth, but buses don't have urban sex appeal.  Streetcars and light rail are hip, therefore they get the funding.

• Interstate Bridge decision.  Naturally, the governors and mayors and federal transportation pooh-bahs have chosen the plainest, most boring, least attractive bridge option available.  We could have had something really beautiful spanning the Columbia between Portland and Vancouver, but instead it will look like a freeway.  I know, I know, it's the economy, stupid!  Still, opportunities to build something spectacular and special don't come along every day and it's a shame when the outcome is so... bland.

Well, that's all I have time for right now.  Plenty to follow up on, and report back on.  I will let you know what is happening on the streets of PDX!  Stay tuned!

Soup Cycle!

We did it!  We signed up for Soup Cycle!

I love Portland!

Have you heard of this?  Do you subscribe?  How amazingly awesome is Soup Cycle?!

So, for those of you who don't know, Soup Cycle is an outfit that makes delicious organic (of course) soup and delivers it once a week by bicycle.  They will also deliver salad and bread.  You leave a cooler with ice on your porch and when you get home, voila!  Dinner is ready to be heated and slurped.

So far we have had:
Chicken minestrone
Chicken noodle
Barack-a-li Cheddar
and today we get:
Hot and Sour

Everything has been delicious so far and I am expecting that trend to continue.

If you are interested, and live within the bicycling perimeter, I heartily recommend a soupscription!  Check them out:  soupcycle.com

Tuesday Two-fer!

So, I’m on the bus, riding through downtown Portland, and I see something I want to check out further.  Or, maybe something I want to blog about.  I turn my head to get a look at the street sign so that I know which cross street is nearest.  Oops!  We’re sailing through the intersection and as we go by I get a glimpse of the back of the sign.  And, guess what?  I have no idea what street it is because Portland is too cheap to print the name of the street on both sides of the sign.  ARGH!!

The street sign orientation is designed for cars.  In a city that prides itself on being bike and public transportation friendly, it’s still an automotive world.  This is frustrating!  It’s even frustrating when you are in a car and you ask your passenger to check which street you just crossed and they can’t answer because the street signs are blank on the back.  Who thought of that unfriendly cost saving measure?  I’m not impressed at all.

And, here’s your second peeve today:  Road paint. 

Why, oh why Portland, do you skimp on road paint?  The lane lines, the crosswalk lines, the arrows, all of that important directional and safety information that is painted on the road is there for a reason.  But, in Portland, you can barely see it.  It should be bright and reflective but in most neighborhoods and on arterials it is very faint when you can find it at all.  In a little traveled area this wouldn’t be too big of a deal.  But, come on, on the Broadway/Weidler corridor?  On Barbur Boulevard?  On Powell and Foster?  On Lombard?  You have to guess where the lane is supposed to be.  If you drive that road often, you are mostly ok.  You know where the lanes are even if they are not marked.  You’d better be looking out for other drivers though, because it might be someone from another part of town who doesn’t drive there often and might wander into your lane.  And, at night?  That’s when it’s really tough.  It’s a safety concern.  On a dark, rainy night it’s anybody’s guess where the damn lane is.  Be careful out there.

I Promise

When I retire (notice that I say ‘when’ not ‘if’¹), I promise to be very considerate of working stiffs.  It’s hard, nay, grueling, to work full time and stop at the store on your way home to get either something for dinner or something for tomorrow’s lunch.  It’s even harder when you take public transportation and have to schlep your groceries home in your aching arms (because your backpack is full of your sweaty workout clothes) and you have to pray for a seat on the bus or train.

I promise to do my grocery shopping either mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or even late evening², but never in the 4:30 to 6:30 after work time slot, or the precious and brief noon hour.  Even if it means that I am shopping with the stay-at-home parents and their loud and sticky children, and the elderly who use the shopping cart as a walker and need help reaching the products on the higher shelves (it won’t be long before that includes me, by the way, as I already need help reaching the top shelf).  I promise that I will never be that person at the deli counter who has to sample every fecking thing (which is better?  the honey ham or the brown sugar ham?  Gah!  They are the same with a different wrapper!)  before deciding that she just wants a quarter pound of the roast beef (same as last time!), while holding up a dozen hard working, tired wage slaves who just need to get a half pound of sliced turkey for their sandwiches for lunch.

I promise to ride public transportation an hour after the day shift has arrived at work³, even though it means I will be riding with the college students and the indigent.  I will not take a seat from someone who will be on her feet all day standing at a check stand or serving food.  Until I am unsteady on my pins I will surrender my seat to anyone who looks like they could use a break.

I will be the most considerate retiree ever.  I won’t go to the post office during those same hours either.  I won’t be walking my dog when the commuters are striding down the sidewalk⁴.  You won’t catch me in the bank during those hours.  I won’t be at the gym either.  I’ll be there mid-day when there is no fighting over the recumbent bike.  I’ll have lots of time to plan my outings, and I will take the working people into consideration when I do.  I promise.

1. I intend to retire from my current job in approximately three years.  I will not be old enough to collect social security, if any still exists, or my public employee retirement income (again, if any money is left in there), but I am still going to retire.  And then look for a job, because how will I be able to feed myself and pay for my health care?  The key is that I won’t be coming here anymore.  Twenty years is enough.

2. A great time to do your grocery shopping is on Friday evening.  People with social lives are out being social and the only real action at the grocery store is in the beer and wine section (or liquor section if you live in a state that allows that).  Ain’t nobody in the breakfast cereal or baking aisles at that hour.

3. I ride the bus that goes to the hospital.  Some years ago, in the very early hours of the morning, we pulled up to a stop downtown.  Waiting at the stop was an old lady of the crazy variety.  In her wheelchair.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that everyone has the right to get on the bus – it is ‘public’ transportation after all – and that includes people who are less mobile than us fortunate ones with the full use of all of our limbs.  Further, I am delighted at the variety of mechanical advancements the bus manufacturers design.  Each one is better than the last!  I will say, though, that it takes longer for a wheelchair to get on the bus than it does for someone walking.  No big deal!  So it takes longer, so what?!  The only time it is an irritation is when you are trying to get to work, maybe running a little late, and you would just barely make it if it weren’t for that wheelchair rider.  Sigh.  Oh well.  So, we pull up to the stop and the crazy old lady in the wheelchair wants to ride to the hospital.  Of course she does.  Never mind that it’s  6:30 in the morning and none of the clinics are open because, Hello, the workers are on the bus; she wants to go to the hospital and she has the right to get on the bus.  So, the driver deploys the wheelchair device and she wheels onboard, takes a look at all of us in our scrubs and uniforms and work duds, she lets out a piercing cackle and cries aloud, “Taxpayers! Ha ha ha, taxpayers!”  Yeah.  Way to rub our noses in it.  I promise to never do that.

4. I always, always, always, pick up after my dog.  If you stepped in poop on the way to work, it wasn’t from us.  I promise!

Perplexed at the Plethora

What are they thinking?  Have they done any market research or looked at the site?  I don't think so.  Here's what I'm talking about:

The main drag through inner NE Portland is Broadway.  Broadway is one way, so it has a twin running the opposite direction, NE Weidler St.  There are more businesses on the Broadway side than on the Weidler side, but certain areas of Weidler are very busy.  One of the busy areas is just west of the Lloyd Center mall.  There is a two block stretch - between NE 7th and 9th that is full of food choices.  Or food-like choices, depending on your eating habits.

Actually, I should extend that just a bit and start from NE 6th, where we have McDonalds.  One block later, Burger King.  And here's where I am scratching my head.

On the corner of Weidler and 8th is Taco Bell.  TB used to be next door to Kentucky Fried Chicken and across the street from Skippers.  Well, KFC and Skippers closed up shop at this location ~ apparently because they weren't offering enough beans in their menu.  The KFC spot is now occupied by a local  Mexican food chain called Muchas Gracias.  The Skippers site is now occupied by Chipotle.  Yes, another quasi-Mexican food place!  But, wait!  There's more!  On the very next corner, where there used to be a pizza place is now... wait for it... A MEXICAN FOOD PLACE!  This one is called Qdoba.  There is another downtown, so I'd have to guess that it's a chain as well.  What gives?  Why the plethora of Mexican food choices all crammed into this one area?  I like Mexican food real well.  It's one of my favorites.  But, four similar menus in the space of two blocks?  I don't know.  It's overkill.

Besides, the smart diner is up on Alberta getting tamales at La Bonita.  Autentico!  Tan sabroso!

What do you think?  Nice to have choices or overkill?




PS: Gager ~ is this thing working?

At least I make myself laugh...

I was on the bus early this morning and somewhere along 5th Avenue downtown I looked up and saw Mt Hood perfectly silhouetted between two of the 'president' apartment towers.  The sun was coming up behind the mountain and the sky was just starting to glow pink.

I got out my phone to take a quick picture to share with you:

Yeah, that's right.  Pointed the damn thing the wrong way and took a picture of myself and another random bus rider on the Number 8!

Go ahead and laugh!  It's funny!  I was laughing; still am.

Too Early!

Ok, it's too early but who cares?!

I saw a daffodil in my neighborhood this weekend!!!  And, the other day, when I was getting home from work, I was stopped in my tracks by the scent of a flower.  It's not the daphne yet, far too early for that, but a shrub who's name escapes me at the moment.  But, I was walking up the steps to the front door and caught a whiff of it on the breeze and stopped and breathed it in.  Heavenly.

We have tulips and daffodils starting to poke their leaves out, and the neighbor's camellia is loaded with buds, and even though it's still January, here come the spring flowers.

Yay!