Out Of Ideas

I've had this blog way too long. I wrote an entire blog post ranting against Verizon only to realize that I already wrote an extremely similar post exactly 4 years ago. The only difference between the November 2012 post and what I wrote and deleted today is that I actually talked with a customer service representative this time who told me that I need to upgrade my plan to get text updates about data usage. Otherwise, I will only get text messages when I'm out of data. A friend recommended a free app to track data usage, so problem may be solved with no help from Verizon.

I've spent the past few days in Portland, Oregon, and I have a few thoughts. Actually, many of them are similar to my notes from a 2009 blog post about my first trip to Portland. I give up. Apparently, I can't come up with any new ideas.

Fine, instead I'll share some pictures from Portland.

Can anyone that lives in Oregon or has even visited this state explain how elections work here? Instead of going to the polls, do Oregon citizens just drop their ballots in these boxes? That doesn't seem efficient.

There are way too many crows in downtown Portland. Shouldn't they be out in the country somewhere?

Finally, this is a picture of Providence Park, home of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns, from the bleachers connected to Multnomah Athletic Club. I want to live at Multnomah Athletic Club. It's 600,000 square feet of pools, tennis courts, squash courts, handball/racquetball courts, a rock climbing gym, restaurants, and so much more.

Notes From Portland

Although I’m now home, here are my experiences and thoughts from visiting Portland, Oregon:

I started the trip by flying from Washington Dulles to Dallas to Portland where after leaving the airport, I saw signs for The Dalles.

Unless someone was having a joke at the expense of some tourists, people in Portland pronounce Couch Street, Cooch Street.

People in the Pacific Northwest love their bookstores. I really enjoyed The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle last year, but Powell’s Books laughs at EBBC. Powell’s may be the greatest bookstore ever as it is also the largest bookstore in the world. I made two separate trips there and could easily have gone back a few more times. I restrained myself by only buying two books, and I plan on visiting the Fairfax County Public Library soon to check out at least six more.



We decided not to eat at restaurant that had Chicken Butt Kabob on the menu.

Did you know that Portland is Soccer City USA? I heard it on a commercial, so it must be true!

This could be something for TMI Thursday, but I feel like it is part of my Portland experience. I stayed at a fancy hotel with turn-down service and a personal wake-up call where they would ask if I wanted room service and/or a weather report. Very classy. So what do I do? Clog the toilet. Not so classy.

We stumbled into some type of bike race through the streets of Portland on Friday evening. While talking among ourselves about what we were witnessing, a guy replied that it was a bike race. Really, Lance Armstrong?

Portland seemed to have a lot of homeless people who look like they are in their 20s and appear to be waiting for a Nirvana concert. It seemed to be a lifestyle for many of them. I’ve never seen this in any other city.

The big story when I first arrived in Portland was that a star was in town. Who knew that I was so big in Oregon? Oh, someone named Eva Longoria-Parker was also there.



If you’ve visited or lived in Portland, was there anything that I missed? Is the street name reference above really called Cooch?