We’re getting a little taste of fall this morning in the Portland area, with the overcast skies and mist. I’ve missed it!
When I first moved here, several of my friends and family asked me how I could stand so much rain in the winter. Well, to be honest, I’ve always had more of a problem with the summers than the winters.
Pretty much nonstop sunshine, close to zero rain, dry as a tinder box, and way hotter than I generally like it to be. I love the rainy season.
Personally, I think Google’s best product is News, by a long shot. After 20 years of harvesting my data, they’ve got my interests dialed.
When your old 1st Gen iPad Pro is commandeered and de facto inherited by your children.
My only criteria for friendship is an ability to use “its” or “whose” properly.
Apparently I’m judgmental and my standards are too high.
I had a flashback this morning as I was getting the kids ready for school that reminded me of a time in my life when everything was so unsettled and chaotic. This seems to happen to me a lot more whenever summer starts to give way to fall, when I can smell the change of season in the air and the evenings get a little bit shorter. The memories of back-to-school anxiousness come flooding back and I get a pang somewhere in the recesses of my brain. Usually I’m transported back to being 13 and crying in the dressing room at Sears while trying on school clothes, but today’s memory was different.
A couple of decades ago, after my third term at an enormous university, I flunked out of engineering school. It used to be a pretty big source of embarrassment for me, but after many years of learning about myself, I’ve come to understand the difficulties I experienced then were less a personal failure than they were the very obvious result of my crippling anxiety and undiagnosed ADHD. I no longer look at that time negatively, but rather an inflection point in my life when I had begun to understand myself better.
For the next two and a half years after dropping out, I worked various service jobs and other menial labor for minimum wage, which was $5.15 per hour. I had worked as a pantry cook, gas station attendant, cell phone sales rep, water purification system sales rep, surf and skate shop associate, and I even working for an asbestos abatement contractor one summer. I was always broke and things weren’t going so great, to say the least. Often I found myself wondering what could have been and fell into a major depression.
There were a few more twists and turns over this time period that I won’t get into here, but this week marks the 20-year anniversary of me going back to school and restarting my educational journey at a community college. After two years there, I transferred back to university and finished a bachelor’s degree, only to find myself working in a kitchen again because of the Great Recession. During this time, I applied to graduate programs. I was accepted at a top 3 public university, and a couple of years later I received my master’s degree in urban planning. As a result of that, I was finally able to gain a foothold in some meaningful work that actually paid a living wage at the ripe old age of 29. And the rest is history, or so they say.
I likely would have avoided a lot of this hardship had I had financial support, well-connected parents, or even health insurance and medication for my anxiety. However, the fact that I did it on my own is a great source of pride now. I look back fondly at my time at community college. In a lot of ways, it was my best higher ed experience of all three I attended. But more than that, it laid the groundwork for the life I love now.
It’s a Waylon & Willie kind of morning.
One of the many things we do as planners…connect neighborhoods with bike/ped facilities for safe routes to school, walking routes to transit, etc. The neighborhood behind me was separated from the elementary school by a creek. Nice to see plans become reality.
I’ve always been left of center politically, but there’s a quote often credited to Reagan that I’ve kept above my computer screen for years:
“If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
It’s a loaded saying, but to me it boils down to the idea that people can sometimes be more emotional than logical, so you should try to keep your arguments as simple as possible. I think this has served me well.
I’ve thought about making video content as a side gig but I don’t think I can look at my own face that much. How do YouTubers stand to see their own faces so often with all that recording and editing? I’m on TV pretty regularly but never go back and watch myself on video. Ever.
I think I need a new method to organize my favorite locations. Ugh this gives me anxiety lol.
Summertime and the livin’ is easy.
Whenever I feel like I don’t have enough, I try to meditate on the thought that my maternal grandmother grew up in a one-room shack with a dirt floor and had 2 of her 8 kids before her 18th birthday.
Japanese Breakfast at Pioneer Courthouse Square. #pdx
I was having a text conversation with my brother this evening. He hadn’t heard of ChatGPT yet, so I showed him an example and he told me that this reminded him of that song by Tool about California being flushed away into the Pacific Ocean.
I said, “Arizona Bay?”
“Yeah,” he said.
I asked ChatGPT again: “Tell me about the song ‘Arizona Bay’ by Tool.”
This was its response:
>”Arizona Bay” is not a song by Tool. However, it is a term coined by the band’s lead singer, Maynard James Keenan, and it is the title of a comedy album by comedian Bill Hicks.
>Bill Hicks was a renowned American stand-up comedian known for his thought-provoking and often controversial material. He frequently discussed topics such as politics, society, and religion in his performances. “Arizona Bay” was recorded in 1996 and released posthumously in 1997, following Hicks’ death.
>The term “Arizona Bay” itself refers to a hypothetical scenario where the state of Arizona, along with parts of Southern California, would be submerged underwater due to a massive earthquake, resulting in the creation of a new coastline. Hicks used this concept as a metaphor for his vision of a better society, one that would emerge after the collapse of the current societal and political systems.
>Maynard James Keenan, being a fan of Bill Hicks, drew inspiration from his work and incorporated some of Hicks’ ideas into Tool’s music. Although “Arizona Bay” is not a song by Tool, the band has paid tribute to Bill Hicks in their performances and even sampled some of his comedy bits in their songs.
>So while “Arizona Bay” may not be a Tool song, it holds significance in the band’s history and the influence of Bill Hicks on their music and worldview.
Got my cheap-o guitar back from Portland Fret Works. I had some Waverly tuners installed that I had lying around. I’m pretty sure I spent more on the tuners than the guitar. But hey, I’m thoroughly enjoying it and that’s all that matters.
Some days I absolutely feel like the subject of ‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads. How prescient of David Byrne.
[music.apple.com/us/album/…](https://music.apple.com/us/album/once-in-a-lifetime/20833651?i=20833675)
One of those Halloween stores opened up at Cedar Hills Crossing on or about August 1. What a time to be alive.
Last year we lost our neighborhood Indian restaurant, our favorite. We were pretty upset when it closed, and quite honestly, we still are.
But since then, we’ve learned of all sorts of new things moving in nearby. In the place of the Indian restaurant, we’re now getting a brewery, one that we can walk to from our house.
Also, a new Himalayan dumpling place opened and it’s excellent!
It’s still 90° out at 10 p.m.
Likely heat island effect, but ugh. It certainly feels like 110°F. #pdx
I despise LinkedIn, but they get at least one thing right.
There’s a setting to allow or disallow political content in the home feed.
I would pay money for that feature.
Happy birthday to my lovely, compassionate, hardworking, thoughtful, fun, and caring wife. My best friend and amazing mother to our two children, you only get better as the years go on and we are so grateful and lucky to have you!
We’re getting a little taste of fall this morning in the Portland area, with the overcast skies and mist. I’ve missed it!
When I first moved here, several of my friends and family asked me how I could stand so much rain in the winter. Well, to be honest, I’ve always had more of a problem with the summers than the winters.
Pretty much nonstop sunshine, close to zero rain, dry as a tinder box, and way hotter than I generally like it to be. I love the rainy season.
Personally, I think Google’s best product is News, by a long shot. After 20 years of harvesting my data, they’ve got my interests dialed.
When your old 1st Gen iPad Pro is commandeered and de facto inherited by your children.
My only criteria for friendship is an ability to use “its” or “whose” properly.
Apparently I’m judgmental and my standards are too high.
I had a flashback this morning as I was getting the kids ready for school that reminded me of a time in my life when everything was so unsettled and chaotic. This seems to happen to me a lot more whenever summer starts to give way to fall, when I can smell the change of season in the air and the evenings get a little bit shorter. The memories of back-to-school anxiousness come flooding back and I get a pang somewhere in the recesses of my brain. Usually I’m transported back to being 13 and crying in the dressing room at Sears while trying on school clothes, but today’s memory was different.
A couple of decades ago, after my third term at an enormous university, I flunked out of engineering school. It used to be a pretty big source of embarrassment for me, but after many years of learning about myself, I’ve come to understand the difficulties I experienced then were less a personal failure than they were the very obvious result of my crippling anxiety and undiagnosed ADHD. I no longer look at that time negatively, but rather an inflection point in my life when I had begun to understand myself better.
For the next two and a half years after dropping out, I worked various service jobs and other menial labor for minimum wage, which was $5.15 per hour. I had worked as a pantry cook, gas station attendant, cell phone sales rep, water purification system sales rep, surf and skate shop associate, and I even working for an asbestos abatement contractor one summer. I was always broke and things weren’t going so great, to say the least. Often I found myself wondering what could have been and fell into a major depression.
There were a few more twists and turns over this time period that I won’t get into here, but this week marks the 20-year anniversary of me going back to school and restarting my educational journey at a community college. After two years there, I transferred back to university and finished a bachelor’s degree, only to find myself working in a kitchen again because of the Great Recession. During this time, I applied to graduate programs. I was accepted at a top 3 public university, and a couple of years later I received my master’s degree in urban planning. As a result of that, I was finally able to gain a foothold in some meaningful work that actually paid a living wage at the ripe old age of 29. And the rest is history, or so they say.
I likely would have avoided a lot of this hardship had I had financial support, well-connected parents, or even health insurance and medication for my anxiety. However, the fact that I did it on my own is a great source of pride now. I look back fondly at my time at community college. In a lot of ways, it was my best higher ed experience of all three I attended. But more than that, it laid the groundwork for the life I love now.
It’s a Waylon & Willie kind of morning.
One of the many things we do as planners…connect neighborhoods with bike/ped facilities for safe routes to school, walking routes to transit, etc. The neighborhood behind me was separated from the elementary school by a creek. Nice to see plans become reality.
I’ve always been left of center politically, but there’s a quote often credited to Reagan that I’ve kept above my computer screen for years:
“If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
It’s a loaded saying, but to me it boils down to the idea that people can sometimes be more emotional than logical, so you should try to keep your arguments as simple as possible. I think this has served me well.
I’ve thought about making video content as a side gig but I don’t think I can look at my own face that much. How do YouTubers stand to see their own faces so often with all that recording and editing? I’m on TV pretty regularly but never go back and watch myself on video. Ever.
I think I need a new method to organize my favorite locations. Ugh this gives me anxiety lol.
Summertime and the livin’ is easy.
Whenever I feel like I don’t have enough, I try to meditate on the thought that my maternal grandmother grew up in a one-room shack with a dirt floor and had 2 of her 8 kids before her 18th birthday.
Japanese Breakfast at Pioneer Courthouse Square. #pdx
I was having a text conversation with my brother this evening. He hadn’t heard of ChatGPT yet, so I showed him an example and he told me that this reminded him of that song by Tool about California being flushed away into the Pacific Ocean.
I said, “Arizona Bay?”
“Yeah,” he said.
I asked ChatGPT again: “Tell me about the song ‘Arizona Bay’ by Tool.”
This was its response:
>”Arizona Bay” is not a song by Tool. However, it is a term coined by the band’s lead singer, Maynard James Keenan, and it is the title of a comedy album by comedian Bill Hicks.
>Bill Hicks was a renowned American stand-up comedian known for his thought-provoking and often controversial material. He frequently discussed topics such as politics, society, and religion in his performances. “Arizona Bay” was recorded in 1996 and released posthumously in 1997, following Hicks’ death.
>The term “Arizona Bay” itself refers to a hypothetical scenario where the state of Arizona, along with parts of Southern California, would be submerged underwater due to a massive earthquake, resulting in the creation of a new coastline. Hicks used this concept as a metaphor for his vision of a better society, one that would emerge after the collapse of the current societal and political systems.
>Maynard James Keenan, being a fan of Bill Hicks, drew inspiration from his work and incorporated some of Hicks’ ideas into Tool’s music. Although “Arizona Bay” is not a song by Tool, the band has paid tribute to Bill Hicks in their performances and even sampled some of his comedy bits in their songs.
>So while “Arizona Bay” may not be a Tool song, it holds significance in the band’s history and the influence of Bill Hicks on their music and worldview.
Got my cheap-o guitar back from Portland Fret Works. I had some Waverly tuners installed that I had lying around. I’m pretty sure I spent more on the tuners than the guitar. But hey, I’m thoroughly enjoying it and that’s all that matters.
Some days I absolutely feel like the subject of ‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads. How prescient of David Byrne.
[music.apple.com/us/album/…](https://music.apple.com/us/album/once-in-a-lifetime/20833651?i=20833675)
One of those Halloween stores opened up at Cedar Hills Crossing on or about August 1. What a time to be alive.
Last year we lost our neighborhood Indian restaurant, our favorite. We were pretty upset when it closed, and quite honestly, we still are.
But since then, we’ve learned of all sorts of new things moving in nearby. In the place of the Indian restaurant, we’re now getting a brewery, one that we can walk to from our house.
Also, a new Himalayan dumpling place opened and it’s excellent!
It’s still 90° out at 10 p.m.
Likely heat island effect, but ugh. It certainly feels like 110°F. #pdx
I despise LinkedIn, but they get at least one thing right.
There’s a setting to allow or disallow political content in the home feed.
I would pay money for that feature.
Happy birthday to my lovely, compassionate, hardworking, thoughtful, fun, and caring wife. My best friend and amazing mother to our two children, you only get better as the years go on and we are so grateful and lucky to have you!
