Incursio

This goes out to the nice homely lady waiting for and riding bus 58 out of downtown Portland recently. Just because you CAN have personal discussions on the cell phone, doesn't mean you SHOULD. We, the fellow passengers, have no real interest in your personal afairs. For example - despite what the other person on the end of the line might want to know, we certainly do not need to know that you are suffering your worst cramps in recent memory. While I can sympathize with you, and I am sure many of our co-passengers can empathize with you - it is really none of our business. But even if we were to feel some sort of tugging at our heart strings for your unfortunate suffering I feel fairly confident in pointing out that we really have no interest in the fact that you recently had vaginal discharge, which was determined to be caused by an infection which was treated by antibiotics and as such you are now feeling much better. I am happy that your problem which would possibly ...

I overheard a conversation in Beaverton today where someone was having to pick up a package at the FedEx depot in Portland, "somewhere by the Convention Center" (actually on Swan Island). They were (seriously) complaining that they had to go back home to get their gun in order to drive into Portland. Oh My God.

So we are in Benihana enjoying a special lunch with the family. And the couple that we "shared" the hibachi grill / table with spent most of the meal on the phone or texting. They made several calls each, and then "excused" themselves by saying that today was their daughter's second birthday, and they were planning the party. Hey, A$$HOLES: It is not my fault you are crappy parents and didn't plan until the last minute. Don't ruin my $20 lunch by blabbering (loudly) on the phone the whole time, please. And to top it off, each one drank two beers and a goodly amount of saki. And they drove off in separate vehicles. Drunken birthday planners who are rushed and in a hurry! Glad I wasn't driving / biking / or walking around Beaverton this afternoon...

Here are some random image thoughts that I have from around the Portland area. Image thoughts. Those are images that struck me in one way or another, and here are my thoughts about them: Seen this week at Fred Meyer on NE Broadway & 30th. Best sale EVAR!!!! This is another one that I took a few years back (Feb 2003 to be exact). I figured I would include it here, for posterity sake. Good thing these price adjustments are "Automatic" because otherwise I would worry about the folks running the store. Or maybe we should anyway, because even if the computer spits out the signs auto-magically, some human has to take the sign and tape it to the products in question. These two photos were taken more than 5 years apart. Why was the "bug" in the software which allows "automatic price reductions" of zero to occur and print out not found and fixed within those 5 years? You can barely make this one out. But it was a food-shoot. It is inside ...

There is a new neighborhood networking community site, over at PortlandNeighborhood.com . Their new community component can be found here: Community @ PortlandNeighborhood Check it out, join up, and start networking your friends and neighborhoods! It is young but has lots of potential!

At a large company in downtown Portland, we worked hard to have facilities put in recycle bins. I had no idea that there was so much involved but finally we get them. Nice! So today I go to take a few bottles and cans, and the "trash only" bin has lots of bottles and cans in with the trash, and the "bottles and cans" bin has lots of trash in with the bottles and cans. Damn it people, it is three bins. Clearly labeled. How f'ing hard is this? Are my standards for humanity too high?

I don't know how these guys did it, but they must have installed secret cameras in my house. There is no other way they could have known...