Let me repeat…
Okay – gotta hurry off to get ready for another early morning meeting, but let me just say once more about my previous post: I’m so very very sorry. I HAD TO GET IT OUT OF MY BRAIN! And into yours. Believe me – seeing it was much worse than reading about it.
And in other news – I HEART PORTLAND! I know I’ve said that before about Seattle, and DC, and New York, and of course Chicago… but this time I think i mean it. Portland is like your old friend from small-town elementary school who’s still super sweet and smart, but has grown into a really cool adult who likes to go out to eat at great restaurants and always seems to know stuff about bands you’ve never heard of. Portland is awesome like that. And the downtown area feels a little like Main Street USA at Disneyworld. Cobblestone streets and white lights and all. Except instead of Disney characters walking around, there are a lot of homeless people. So that made me homesick for Chicago.
Oh, and I think people are really trusting and law-abiding here – what up with driving the speed limit, yo? And what up with the honor system on the MAX lines? Is anyone ever going to ask for my ticket? Suckers.
Filed under: General on January 24th, 2007
January 24th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Isn’t Portland FUN!?
It was such a pretty day yesterday, too. I’m glad you got to see it when it’s not raining.
My brother drives one of the Max trains. There TOTALLY is an honor system, but they have spot checks. Inspectors that come on and ask to see people’s tickets occasionally. And if you don’t have one, you’re kinda screwed.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:27 am
don’t worry. proceeds from public transportation go to social services. so for every 10 tickets people refuse to pay for, we get to kill a homeless person to balance the budget. everyone’s happy. no one gets hurt.
January 24th, 2007 at 9:37 am
i can’t wait ’til march. it’s going to be so much fun!
January 24th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Thanks. I am STILL thinking about that terrible act you described yesterday. Have fun in Portland, Jen.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Have you seen any farmer’s blows since you’ve been there? I bet that’s make you even more homesick for Chicago. Have you asked for a pop yet and got really confused looks? Just call it soda and you’ll be cool.
January 24th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
It makes me so happy that you are on the correct time zone right now! Y’know… you COULD MOVE to the Pac. Northwest — we’d “nice” the Chicago right outta you in no time.
January 24th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Cripes, your description of Portland is so great and it makes me really homesick
And . . . I was caught on the max once sans ticket! Yikes!
January 24th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Sorry the comment above is me! Not anon!
January 24th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Churlita is wrong you know…
“Soda” is a California thing. I grew up here in Oregon, and grew up calling it “pop”.
Then I moved to California, and got ridiculed for calling it Pop.
I got used to calling it soda, and when I came back to Oregon, it stuck. So, now when I ask for soda, I get dirty looks, because it sounds like I’m a California transplant. And Oregonians are churlish about Californians.
Damn Linguistics.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I appreciate the additional apology. I still feel…tainted. Ew!
January 25th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Yes, I’ve heard that Portland is an extremely civil city.
If I were a homelss person, I’d live in Portland.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Sorry. I stand corrected. I always thought the pop/soda/coke demographic was: From the West Coast to Colorado you called it soda, from Ohio to the East Coast you called it pop, and in the South you called it Coke, even if you’re drinking Mountain Dew. Now, if I ever make it to Portland, I won’t sound like such a foreigner.
January 26th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Ah, back from sunny (no, really!) Portland into the icy embrace of Chicago! The only good thing about leaving is that I’ll be back there again in 6 weeks – yippee!
January 26th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Sunny? Now you’re just rubbing it in.
January 27th, 2007 at 5:53 am
I was within running distance of you!
January 28th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Are you trying to make me jealous about TequilaCon??
January 29th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
This is why they won’t let you back into that entire city. You just blew your cover. Those nice people have HAD it with you.
February 4th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Your description of Portland is the best. Wouldn’t it be great if we all went there on bidness at the same time? I was there for Halloween. I don’t remember if I blogged it. Prolly not.