Saxomophone!

As i was riding home last night (later than usual) i really thought i heard someone playing the saxophone at about 11th and Division, though looking all around in the direction I thought the music was coming from i found no such horn nor player. I am still not sure if i was just imagining the music or if there really was someone playing nearby, the former possibility being likely a result of too intense readings of 1960s Austrian explorations of apocalypse via the neutron bomb and subsequent sole survivor separation from civilization. (Marlen Haushofer - Die Wand) Either way, it made me think about when the last time i picked up that old friend, which was probably then:



That was a different time and i a different person, to be sure. However, all this plus a few conversations i've recently had with some family and good friends made me think i ought to pick it up again. Wail away even, if my fingers, lungs, and lips can remember their old gusto.

Back to Normal - Thanks, Kirk

My daily ride over the bridge was back to normal this evening. "Working Kirk" aka, the guy with the white tuxedo and the Mickey Mouse hat, was at his usual post off to the SW side of the Hawthorne Bridge and was about his usual antics. Today he happened to be toying with the Flintstones' Theme Song on his trumpet as i rode by. His expanding ball, slide whistle, 3 toss juggling move, and a circle-turns-into-a-square magic trick are other favorites, some of which i've seen, others of which i guess i need to hang around for a bit to witness. Thanks for bringing smiles to people's faces and hopefully a little joy to their hearts, Kirk.









P.S. - I thought that some of the most interesting lines in the linked article above were the ones about how he's potentially saved people contemplating suicide and given nearby quartered prisoners a reason to keep living.

Gotta Love Portland - Valentine's Day Special

Today in honor of Valentine's Day, or, more accurately, in honor of some special someones, i wore a pink shirt and some pants-sheared-shorts with a few sparse red threads worked into the pattern. K & i went on a Valentine's morning date before i had to go to class while the little one was being watched & entertained by a family friend & corresponding munchkin. The lady and the little lady each received a flower which now sit in vases (pronounced "VAHZ-ehz") on the dining table. (The table is not dining on things of course, but rather is FOR dining.) Later i donned my Valentine's-Day-red Wost Day of the Year Ride shirt, which is a little bittersweet 'cause i wasn't able to ride this year (last Sunday) due to still being in recovery mode from an illness which more or less wiped out the whole fam for about a week. At least the shirt is festive feeling and color appropriate. I put a Super Mario power-up mushroom button on to add a little more festiveness.

Anyway, let me get to the point: riding home today across the Hawthorne Bridge i saw a few guys out of the corner of my eye who were holding a cardboard sign which appeared to say "free eggs", though as i rode past the guy asked me (i think) "Hey, do you want any free range eggs?!" It would not seem so strange to me, especially in Portland or any large-ish city in general that some random people are just standing on the side of a bridge trying to peddle eggs, but the fact that they were out loudly peddling their wares to passersby in the dark and amidst what my wife described as hurricane-like dangerous winds and rain seemed a little...odd. Then again, i probably shouldn't be that surprised. I also didn't notice any eggs that they may have had, though i was going pretty fast and as I said it was dark, so maybe their egg stash was partially concealed or just plain out of sight. Anyway, that experience was "eggsellent" and as i continued across the bridge i came upon a walking guy who appeared to me at the time like a koopa troopa. More accurately stated, he looked like one of the koopalings that has spines on their shellback, but i did think that carefully at the time about what he should technically be called. All i thought was something like, ok, there is a koopa troopa walking across the bridge! After i passed him i looked back and from the front could see that he had spiky hair and several buttons or patches up and down the shoulder straps. Nice.

Here is a photo to set the mood (add your own wind and rain):









This is not the guy i saw, but the backpack looked quite similar to the one pictured here:












Happy Valentine's Day!

What happens when you study too much

Hippo Hardware

Hippo Hardware is a difficult concept to explain. The best way for you to understand would be for you to just come to Portland and see it. Which i hope you do so i can have an excuse to go there more often and show it off. I tend to explain it to people as a smaller, more eclectic version of The Rebuilding Center, except with a behind-the-scenes modern, new inventory in addition to antique fixtures and such. ...but then one has to know what The Rebuilding Center is, another Portland phenomenon, and so i just end up explaining the concept as a whole anyway. In short: reusable and reclaimed materials, often antique or vintage. Hippo Hardware has a large collection of Hippo paraphernalia, which i'm assuming has grown over the years due to donations or at least the owners/associates bringing in or donating hippo gear. I would love to go on a hippo hunt with you, not of the sort of hunt where hippopotami are in fact slain, but rather a scavenger hunt to see who can find the hippo in the store that is the most __________ (80s, sustainable, huge, toothy, crocheted, stuffed, useful, etc.). I went alone this time to Hippo Hardware in search of a replacement cartridge for the faucet in our bathroom which had been leaking (now fixed mostly: yay!) though Ed sort of accompanied me in a way. Actually he was present right before i showed up at HH for a longer period of time (via cellular telephone) on a visit to the Multnomah County Central Library, and was the beneficiary of many inane comments regarding that structure and related literary homage. By the time i ended up at Hippo Hardware it was time for him to eat breakfast and then watch the Super Bowl and time for me to stop yakking so much and fix a leak.

Here is a mural on one of the doors which either may not work anymore or only is in use during the summer. I did not examine the situation carefully enough to say one way or the other.


Note tattoo on first hippo in foreground's left arm:


Bike there!


Walk there!





Bike there while being a hippo!


Young love.


More hippos on bikes--including one with a child carrier seat much like ours:


Photo from last February for comparison (nearly a year ago now, wow):

There was even a place where my disciplines intersected: German, true love, hippopotamusology, and plumbing. Oh yes, Happy Valentine's Day! (just HOURS till midnight--can you even wait?!)

Portland Hodgepodge

Some of these or their lookalikes someone took the liberty of using on their blog, but i'm republishing a few here 'cause i like them and i want to show some of the scenes i've been seeing of late. Typically one would be able to see the span of the Morrison Bridge in this shot and probably some others in the background but for the thick, delicious fog:

Hawthorne Bridge. Go!

Hood (r) Tabor (l). Sorry about the highrise.

Die Festung Hohensalzburg??

(the real deal)

Note helicopter to right

Getting flown per Hubschrauber to pill hill. Love how the blade just floats there in photographs.

The only redeeming factor about that bridge is that it appears in Elizabethtown. Most everything else about it is atrocious (design, year, variety of transit options, i.e. one). It is kind of fun to ride over the top though. Building in center, Twelve West, has on-site wind generators and is purportedly a very energy efficient building. Haven't met Gus Van Sant yet so i can visit him, though i am rumored to have had a brief non-encounter with him at Laughing Planet Cafe on Belmont (i've heard it said he lives there?) but maybe i can get a tour some other way.

B EAST

We recently took Sierra to a new doctor and let me tell you, the experience was something like the label we found in the parking structure for a particular section of the thing. Needless to say, we are still looking for a good doctor on this new plan. Hopefully we can find someone who is not a:

An Annoyance (a further foray into bathroom ponderings)

Don't get me wrong, i am all for water efficiency but allow me to take this opportunity to outline a little annoyance i've experienced in the stalls lately. Newcomers to this blog should please not be alarmed by bathroom scenes, while old-timers will appreciate the timely bathroom reference (where have they been hiding out all this while?).

You're familiar with those automatic toilet flushing devices? The ones with the sensors and probably a little black button so one can flush the thing in the event the sensor does not work? Probably a good invention because Joe Schmo and Josephina Schmosephina sometimes don't flush that #2 bomb which now lies in wait for you the next time you open the stall door.
But sometimes such well-intentioned technology can go awry. That little black button in case of emergencies for example: totally pointless! When has that button ever been necessary? I suppose we need to take a poll on this point. Also on the following situation: I was, you know, sitting on the commode, doing what needed to be done, and then gathered the necessary TP to clean up shop and did standard lean on the left cheek elevating the right and...*flusssh!*. Yes folks, that's right, NOT DONE WITH BUSINESS, UNPLEASANT SPLASHING, *flusssh!*. Not once, not twice, but at least three times before finishing up: *flusssh!*. *flusssh!* four times?
I couldn't help but thinking to myself: Are these things really saving water? But i guess that is not the point of such devices. The point of such devices is to protect you from the bomb, which i still experience on a regular basis at other less technologically equipped locations. Am i grateful about being protected from the bomb? Probably so. Especially when i think about the fact that i have probably been spared from more bombs than i realize, not to mention nuclear fallout.

Still, i prefer the two-button option where the #2 button option is rarely if ever needed. I also like the two-directional green handle, though think that the #1 option should be the down direction, not #2. It makes the water-conscious people do all the work and the uninformed unwittingly use more water than they need to or might otherwise.

This would be a good idea if it weren't for the noise pollution factor. I'd take it over triple or quadruple flush surprises that splash the tooshie:

Keep This In Mind

Inspiration

(Morgan Freeman as) Mandela: "Tell me, Francois; What is your philosophy on leadership? How do you inspire your team to do their best?"

(Matt Damon as) François: "By example. I've always thought to lead by example, sir."

Mandela: "Well that is right, that is exactly right. But how to get them to be better than they think they can be? That is very difficult, I find. Inspiration, perhaps. How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do?

Bad Weather?

Here is a proverb i've heard before, but really like how i was able to form it in Spanish:

No existe tiempo malo, solo vestido no apropriado.

(There's no such thing as bad weather, just improper attire)

Günter de Bruyn, an old East German author i'm reading for one of my courses this term, puts it this way: "Schlechtes und gutes [Wetter] gab es für sie nicht: nur Kleidung, die ihm nicht entsprach."

Here's to riding all winter!

Happy 2011

Auld Lang Syne

Getting Beat at Scrabble

is kind of annoying, but I'm also thankful for it because I know it means that I can try harder next time, or, more specifically, can rematch to avenge myself! At any rate, it can be humbling, and I'm grateful that many people I love and care about have beaten me.

Final Score: Aaron - 251, Dillon - 325.

OUCH.

Firstly, congratulations, sir.

Secondly, to justify myself a little, let me tell you all something amazing and/or entertaining that happened as a result. Toward the bitter end of the game I tried my darnedest to play a bingo on a triple word score to catch up, alas to no avail. I DID, however, end up coming up with some great near-words.

MIRTHAGE - this was the word I ended up playing as I thought it was the closest to a word (and therefore maybe a word) of the near-words I'd created. I did know that mirth was a word, though had misunderstood its definition to be something like muck or mire. Now I know that it means happiness or jollity (who knew?). Anyway, Dillon challenged me and we looked it up. Surprise! Not a word. But one can definitely add the suffix "age" to most words, whether they be nouns or verbs, and create one's own! For example, "CHURCHAGE" "RAINAGE" "BIKEAGE". Another stellar would-have-been-great-had-it-been-a-real-word Bingo I thought of was "GRIMATHE" which is, of course, poor math, said like grimace, except with a lisp. Too bad I didn't have an "S" instead of an "E" then I could have made "GRIMATHS" (the British version of the same). If I find the score sheet again I'll add my other brilliant inventions.*

Anyway, then we stayed up talking, as we're apt to do, until 3:45am. Good times, good times...




*Found 21 January, 2011 --> GOTHIMER, kind of like GOSSAMER, but with a lisp. THERMING, the art of keeping oneself at the proper temperature.

Leaping Lizards!

Did your mom nonchalantly capture a tiny reptile this holiday season and store it in a hand-painted jewelry box for safe-keeping until she could show off the treasure of a creature to her granddaughter before releasing it into the wild? I didn't think so. But mine did.

Cafe date and a lil walk

Stacking Functions: Deleted Clip from an Essay

In order to fit a piece to a page limit I decided to ax this section, but wanted to give it new life here, à la deleted scenes on many DVD menus. Probably it was a little too pompous or perhaps not true enough to the prompt. In browsing deleted scenes, I am often struck by some element of the clip which makes it obvious why it would be cut from the film. Perhaps there is some insight shared or some tidbit worth saving, but by and large it's a part of the creative process which better serves society by being placed in the recycle bin rather than put on display as part of the finished product. It's a step up from just tossing it in the trash I reckon, as there must be something in there that can be recycled and repurposed.

"Stacking functions has also been important in my transportation choices. I know that the majority of the trips that I make to anywhere in the city are going to be by bicycle, and thus it is necessary for me to schedule tutoring appointments, work hours, and other events around the knowledge that it can take me up to 30 or 45 minutes to get from one location to the next. It makes the most sense for me to consolidate work within a certain distance, which not only saves me time, but also the energy and stress of having to travel across town multiple times per day. In a car I might not think twice about that wasted energy, but on a bicycle one gains greater respect for distances and the energy it really takes to power transportation from point A to point B."

Worst Day of the Year Ride - promo shots

Thoughts via Charles Dickens on a hopefully forthcoming post

If these were Dickens' observations in the early 1800s, I shudder to think of what he'd have to say about today. What the Dickens?!?!

I was led to this quote via a German etymological search for the word "ballast", which in addition to English and presumably elsewhere also appears in the German language. At the very bottom of this post I've included some ballast of the word's etymological info for your philosophizing enjoyment. :-)

"Dollars! All their cares, hopes, joys, affections, virtues, and associations seemed to be melted down into dollars. Whatever the chance contributions that fell into the slow cauldron of their talk, they made the gruel thick and slab with dollars. Men were weighed by their dollars, measures were gauged by their dollars; life was auctioneered, appraised, put up, and knocked down for its dollars. The next respectable thing to dollars was any venture having their attainment for its end. The more of that worthless ballast, honour and fair-dealing, which any man cast overboard from the ship of his Good Nature and Good Intent, the more ample stowage-room he had for dollars. Make commerce one huge lie and mighty theft. Deface the banner of the nation for an idle rag; pollute it star by star; and cut out stripe by stripe as from the arm of a degraded soldier. Do anything for dollars! What is a flag to them!"


-Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British novelist. Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. 16 (1844).

Remarking on a company of New Yorkers.


-------------------------------
more from dictionary [dot] com:
ballast
[C16: probably from Low German; related to Old Danish, Old Swedish barlast , literally: bare load (without commercial value), from bar bare, mere + last load, burden]


"heavy material used to steady a ship," 1520s, from M.E. bar "bare" (in this case "mere") + last "a load, burden," or borrowed from identical terms in North Sea Gmc. and Scand. (cf. O.Dan. barlast, 14c.). Du. balg-last "ballast," lit. "belly-load," is a folk-etymology corruption.

Fall Series Part Two: Pedestrian Bridgeviews.

A very brief panorama on the pedestrian bridge going over the train tracks. Of note: the colors, a few buildings downtown, Oregon Health and Science University (aka OHSU, aka Pill Hill, which I visited for the first time yesterday riding the Aerial Tram) and of course mode of transportation.

The copper building is the Koin Center, the white one is the tallest building in Portland/Oregon and sports the name of a stupid bank.

Trees, OHSU, and the tower up at Council Crest

View from pedestrian footbridge at PSU, south toward hills

same, north toward downtown

A gorgeous autumnal tree masking a not-so-much parking structure.

An October Hodgepodge

Opa und seine Enkelin

A VERY delicious meal. Yet one of many things I am thankful for...

Those cupcakes happened to be very delicious as well. Danke Susan für das Geburtstagslied.

Some of the last sunflowers of the season from the garden. There *may* be a few more this week, we shall see. We actually have some carrots left and will be planting some garlic, shallots, and onions which can grow through the winter. The fava beans are taking off like crazy.

Some delicious figs courtesy of Mike Meyers and of course the Lord of the Harvest

Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde (Can you complete the phrase?! <-- Well, that is what happened.)

Zero Emissions Race Comes to the Choates! (oh, and Portland)

The team arrives

zero-race.com
http://zero-race.com/en/teams/ (there is a team from Adelaide! I met a guy named Nick who talked about living in The City of Churches.)

Sven charging the Team Vectrix Elektroroller in our garage last night.




Here I am less than an hour ago with Louis Palmer, the first man to circumnavigate the world using 100% solar power (2008). Now he's at it again with a different tactic, the Zero Emissions Race teams, and has a bigger, fascinating plan for next year as well. Shaking his hand last night and hearing him speak to a(n embarrassingly) small group of about 15 EV enthusiasts and others in downtown Portland, I learned that I am now one degree separated from the likes of James Cameron, Ban Ki-moon, Jay Leno, and, among others, various princes, kings, & emirs from the Middle East.
http://www.zero-race.com/en/louis/
http://www.solartaxi.com/

The Transportwagen in front of our place. Meendert, who also stayed with us, can be seen to the right.

Same, but with my excited mug in the shot.