Rare Sighting

Potbellied skateboarder ... rolling down Holgate in more ways than one.

Home Theatre

For those that have inquired and/or helped me in the decision making process, here's what I ended up with. It's awesome. The picture is outstanding and the sound is great as well.

One great feature of the receiver (other receivers have the same feature) is that it comes with a microphone that you set up at your listening position and it auto-adjusts the levels of all the speakers for optimal viewing/listening.

*Sharp Aquos 42" LCD
*Yamaha HTR-6060 AV Receiver
*Infinity TSS-450 Home Theatre Speakers

Oh, and I have a mini-fridge down in the basement stocked with beers as well. I may never see the sun again (course, I live in Portland, so that was true before I installed the above).

Buy Local

It's always a great idea to try to buy local everyday, but tomorrow is Buy Local Day according to treehugger.

From this article I found this great site called Local Harvest that enables you to search your area for farms, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. that sell/use locally grown products.

Go Local, Go Loco!

Suffering in Portland

Two middle-aged women just knocked on my door with broad smiles and bibles in hand.

With all that's going on in the world, we're out to talk to people about why god allows so much suffering.

I almost laughed at them, but I have trouble being rude to such friendly people, so I just said I'm not interested (in god) and sent them on their merry way.

Knife & Son

Caught the rockin performance of Knife & Son last night at The Bitter End Pub last night here in Portland.

Frontman Eric O'Connor's dry wit and bombastic lyrics cut thru the crowd like a knife (!), while Sergio the left-handed bassist (playing a right-handed bass upside down) and the rest of the gang tore it up.

Outside of the show, the other highlight was the $6 pitchers of PBR. Smoooooooth.

I'm already looking forward to the next show!


[photo above courtesy of Jonathan's camera phone]

Hawaii-esque, Sans Warmth

The weather here in Portland, a source of constant inquiries amongst my California family and friends, is Hawaii-esque in its mercurial nature. The skies will darken and dump rain and I'll need to turn on my desk lamp. Fifteen minutes later I look out the window and see bright blue skies and sunshine.

Now if only it were 80 degrees out. Guess I'll have to wait for summer.

Autzen Impressions

Made my first trip to Autzen Stadium yesterday to see the Bruins take on the Ducks. Not a big surprise, but the game was a bit ugly from this guy's perspective, as the Bruins went down hard, 30-20 in a game that wasn't really very close.

Notes from my first trip.

Beauty of a day. Clear skies, mid-60s, no rain. I'm guessing I won't be so lucky on my next trip.

The rumors are true. That place is fucking loud.

The football team's practice facility is adjacent to the stadium, inside the stadium gates, and set up with beer and food stalls during the game. Despite the crowd, it was relatively easy to get there, throw back a beer, and get back without missing any action. If every college football facility had that setup, I'd be at games constantly.

Best ad in the stadium: Better Head for Jerry's. I considered changing my name to Jerry for much of the first quarter before I realized it was some type of home improvement store.

From what I can tell, there are more Californians on the Ducks' roster than on the Bruins'. Dorrell is getting crushed in the recruiting department.

It's stunning to see the amazing array of horrendous looks people can throw together with green and yellow. Somehow, however, almost every Duck fan commented on the Bruins' powder blue upon learning my rooting interest, seemingly obvlivious to their own color issues.

The guy sitting next to me apparently paid his admission in teeth, and there wasn't any change.

A guy sitting near me was wearing a shirt with the word Thunderduck across the chest. I'm guessing he was also driving a Hummer. His wife still seemed unconvinced.

The hick quotient at a Ducks' game is off the charts. I haven't seen that many self-made tank tops, frosted hair-dos and oversized trucks since my last drive thru Fresno.