Stuff and things

So, business is going fine, I'm tired but have been sleeping a lot recently and that is helping, it's cold, and I don't think I really like blogging...

I'm a bad blogger

I know, I never blog... I just don't know what to say I guess. I'd rather call or email. I'm old. This is pointed out by David in his last blog about how only old people use email anymore, and all the young people use IM/myspace/facebook. Well poo, I don't care. And guess what munchkins? IM isn't new!!! IM has been around just about as long as email, and has been deemed a huge waste of time many, many times over. It still lingers on, and occasionally is useful, but if you want something done do you really go to IM? Wanna get really old school? Use IRC, or newsgroups. In fact, the only really new thing that social networking brings to the table that isn't present in forums, IM, email, newsgroups, IRC, etc., is a unification of the different methods, a little bit of focus (send a bulletin just to friends, not everyone) and use by more people. Now that all these people use them that aren't just computer geeks it isn't about sharing information about programming, developing, etc., it becomes gossip and general retardation. It is the same old internet, just the audience and the topic has changed. The technology is not very different.

Email is better: I can email anyone from any service (not just my myspace buddies, my facebook
buddies, etc.) IE it isn't a walled garden -- more in a bit.

I can organize my email into folders and such.

I can maintain some semblance of privacy. (if only someone would really make encryption easy...)

Myspace/facebook amount to reducing the barriers to entry (no setup, etc.) and good marketing. That's really about it.

Gah, so I've been tagged...

I don't usually do these sorts of things, but I was 'tagged' by my kid sister. What can I do, I can't say no. :)

Two Names You Go By:
1. Ben
2. Ben

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Sandals
2. Underwear

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. The ability to both hang out and work together. Hard to get both.
2. Occasional surprises

Two of Your Favorite Things to Do:
1. Go for a walk
2. Win

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. A decision on which light meter to get...
2. A heater

Two Longest Car Rides:
1. Seattle to Utah.
2. Eugene to Montana (I think)

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. 3-day weekends
2. Fourth of July (Yay fireworks)

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Beer
2. Coffee
3. Water

Two Things You May Not Have Known:
1. Osama Bin Laden's first reply to 9-11 was 'It wasn't me!' - Only fat 'fake(?)' Osama confessed...
2. velociraptors had feathers

Two Jobs I Have Had in My Life:
1. Paperboy
2. Computer repair technician

Two Movies I Would Watch Over and Over:
1. None
2. And none = sheesh, overandover? that would suck.

Two Places I Have lived:
1. Eugene
2. Portland

Two of My Favorite Foods:
1. Portobello mushroom sandwiches
2. Carrot cake

Two Places I'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Sailing
2. I dunno... it's cold out...

And no, I'm not passing it on.

Top things I Miss from Eugene

5. No Traffic! Need I say more?

4. The Strand! I still haven't found a place that's as cool of a hang-out-and-get-work-done sort of place as the Strand. They have Cosmic PIzza, good coffee, beer, couches, and Wi-Fi. What more could a Ben ask for?

3. The Bike paths! Portland is supposed to be the #1 bike friendly city in the U.S. Whatever. Sure, they have street signs for bikes (7 minutes ==> to downtown, etc.) and lots of bike lanes, they don't have many bike PATHS. Eugene's awesome bike paths through the woods are so relaxing, refreshing, and pleasant that I miss them all the time. Enjoy them if you're there :)


2. Friends! (In alphabetical order)

• Andy! I'm still seeing him quite a bit, as he's commuting up here for lots of comedy shows. Also, he's probably moving here eventually (although he doesn't know it yet), so that's even better! I am going through seriuos Hwah Hwah Hwah withdrawal up here! However, rest assured, the memes are spreading... Sarah said 'That didn't happen' just yesterday. First time I'd heard her say it. She didn't even know where she got it from... but I do! Hwah hwah hwah!

• David! He was my go everywhere with, do everything with bud for over 2 years solid and I never got sick of him. Great guy, and he's going to San Diego to explore new horizons down there! I'm happy for him getting a move-on and striking out on his own, but I'll miss him. I'm sure he'll come to visit, though :)

• Everybody else! Sorry, no time to list everyone separately. There are lots of great peeps in Eugene, and I miss you all.

1. Family! This one is actually only half-true so far. I've seen my family more after moving to Portland than before, so that's awesome. However, you're still #1. Also, I get to go on a trip with Joe to see the G-parents soon. Yay! Maybe we can go hiking or something later on with Dad, too...

Cheerio!

Random Weird things

OK, so this makes no sense to me....




And, this is what I had for dinner last night...

A picture from the Rose Festival

Portland Waterfront 2
Originally uploaded by benklusman

This was the first night of the rose festival, and there was a great, clear sky, and awesome lights. Didn't have a tripod, but the bridge rail sufficed.

Spy Pics

The Cufflink
Originally uploaded by benklusman

I had time to do a couple shoots in the studio this week. This is one of my absolute favorites that I got out of it. The guy was new to modeling, but very easy to work with, which allowed me to get the light just right. The only thing I didn't get was a highlight on his left shoulder. That strobe wouldn't fire because the other one was too tighly focused, and I don't have radio transmitters/receivers... but I'm gonna have to get some. Regardless, this came out really well. There are more from this set.

July 4th PIcs

I didn't get as close to the fireworks as I'd hoped, and I didn't have a very long lens, so these are more panoramic than I wanted. Some turned out OK, though, and you can find them...

http://happy-imp.smugmug.com/gallery/3193124

there.

Andy and Jenn Visit

This is to be a very random, disjointed post. I don't have much time right now.

So, Yesterday Sarah and I were surprised by a surprise visit from Andy and Jenn. Yay! Andy had a comedy show to do in Longview Washington, so we went and say it (except Sarah, as she was shooting a show), and had an OK time. His show could have gone better, but it could have gone worse. He'll be back up on Tuesday, actually, for another show. Whoo-hoo!

Today... Wii??? Probably not, as I bet there won't be any in stock. But maybe...

Also, it looks like I'm gonna have to get a Mac Pro. Grumble. Tired of having to buy things, but it seems that there will be unavoidable and unworkable latency issues without a massive upgrade, and that seems the most wise. Oh well, that's not all bad...

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm getting too old to drink. Or rather, too old to drink more than 1 or 2 drinks. It's just no fun anymore after that. It used to be I'd get buzzed and have a good time, but really now I don't do anything except feel crappy in the morning. That's easier on the pocket-book, though. A glass of wine after dinner is nice, or a pint.

Office nearly done!

So, after lots of work, and some money, the office is pretty much done! Hurrah! All I have left to do is a little paint trim, trim trim, and some other tiny stuff.

What a week. Last week I had moved everything from the office half into the studio half, so that I could paint the office half. I did that on Friday, and then was busy shooting weddings over the weekend.

Then, Monday I HAD to totally install the floor, so that I could move everything to the Office side, because the carpet installer was coming in early Tuesday morning. Monday was a long, long day.

Tuesday the nice carpet-man installed the carpet. I spent the first half of the day putting the office together enough to work on pics, and the second half editing wedding pics. I also had a shoot in the afternoon. Wednesday was more pic editing, and thursday was errands, organizing the office more, and I almost had free time!

Today, I had only a few urgent things left to do, and they're long done. So, I got to experiment with my strobes a bit, and now post pics and such.

We should be having an office-warming party soon, which will be very nice. I can't wait!

Also, I should be getting to do some commercial studio work (product photography) in the next week or so. Yes!

Anyway, I'm finally feeling like business stuff is getting into a groove, which is very nice.

Cheerio!

Some new Pics

I've been too busy to go through any of the new pics I've been taking, but not quite too busy to take them :)

So, things are finally settling in with the business, and I had some time this afternoon to not only play around with the new strobes, but also to go through some of my new pics, and post them.

Links:

Portland Rose Festival
Strobe Experiments
More to come...

Enjoy!

Life is full of ups and downs

Yesterday was good at first. Had tons of picture sorting to do for this other photographer in town that I've been working with a little bit when either of us has overflow. Also, our strobes arrived. Hurray!

After getting all the work that I HAD to do that day, Sarah and I went to Yoga and then immediately to the studio to play with the strobes. That was fun. Just before leaving, though, I got an email with bad news (possibly losing a job) and it started bothering me. I was thinking about what I could do to recover the sale and whatnot, but was also just generally frustrated.

I finally shook it, and today was out the first-half of the day shooting real estate. Getting back I found all sorts of good news. Another photographer friend up here who does lots of race (as in foot-race) shoots needed help for one tomorrow. Awesome! I always like getting called up for a shoot, and it'll be a good opportunity to use the new 70-200mm lens. After that I was feeling pretty good.

Then I got a call from a magazine I've shot for once before. I thought they were just gonna bug me about picking up my check (it's in eugene), but they in fact had another assignment! I hadn't heard any feedback from them after the first shoot, so I didn't know if they were happy or not. Well, I guess they were, as I have another gig. This one is even very exciting as it's an 'environmental portrait', which is a portrait of someone 'in their environment'. All those portraits of athletes holding their basketballs and posing on the court, or executives looking decisive while sitting behind their desks are this sort of thing. I dislike regular portraiture, with its formulaic lighting and posing, combined with boring backgrounds. Environmental portraits requiring finding a pose and framing that captures an aspect of a person, a role, or maybe several. You get 1 shot to show as much as you can about the person, as per the topic at hand.

So, it's a day of reminding myself not to let the minor ups-and-downs get to me. It was fine to brainstorm ways of recovering the sale, sure. However, it need not give me stress. In fact, I'd be able to handle it better without that. Overall I tend to do OK with this, but on the photography business front I think I'm new enough to it that I lack some confidence that I possess in other areas, and things get to me.

Also, I've noticed that so far, every time I have a bad news day, the next day has good news, and lots of it. I'm sure this trend won't continue forever, but it helps me realize that getting bothered just wastes energy.

Anyway, that's the lesson for the day. I hope everyone out there is doing great and staying stress-free.

Went on an awesome bike ride

Today I decided to finally get down to Forest Park. I've been meaning to since moving here, but it just hasn't worked out. Well, I had the afternoon free so I decided to go check it out. The bike map showed a nice route down there through NW, down the LIef Ericson trail, and then back over the St. Johns bridge and through St. Johns. Turns out it was around 25 miles, but it was a perfect day for it. In the forest it was very cool and despite it being uphill most of the way it seemed easy. The path is very nice, and it's cool to get to bike through the forest; just like the best parts of the eugene bike system.

I mapped out my route to find out how far it had been. Supposedly the site lets me bookmark the path but it doesn't want to work. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. Also, after finishing the Lief Ericson path part, you get to go down Germantown Road, which is very steap, but in a way that lets you go very fast. It's over a mile of pure down-hill fun.

How Independents can win the presidency

I had an idea the other day after watching the debates, both Democratic and Republican. I realized that I would like to get to vote both for my favorite democrat and favorite republican. Just think, I mused, if everyone could vote for their favorite from each party, we'd end up with a candidate who was OK either way. The problem is that the partisans on one side or another end up nominating someone horrid. I wanted McCain to beat Bush in 2000. I was a Dean guy in 2004.

Then it hit me, it's easy. We can't register democrat and then register republican. However, if half of us register democrat and half register republican, and then vote for our favorite, we almost guarantee a nice moderate, popular president. Both candidates should be OK, and then maybe we'll have a nice decade going forward.

How-To:

1: Flip a coin. If it is heads register democrat, if it is tails register republican.
2: Vote for your favorite candidate in whichever party you ended up with.
3: Spread this idea to all your friends.

Good luck!

Never talk about religion or politics...

So I'm gonna break that rule and talk about politics. Here we go...

I watched both the republican and democratic debates today while writing up some business paperwork (blekh) and was surprised by what I saw.

Democrats: I was surprised to see a bunch of people who mostly seemed genuine, honest, on-topic, and fairly civil. I think these debates may be a little more civil right now as it's early on, but it was still nice. I was surprised to find that I would be OK with most of them being president (looking only at this debate, I'm sure this'll change...).

Obama: The guy is sharp. He is very good at quickly cutting to the heart of the topic, he doesn't hesitate to jump into sticky topics, make admissions, and he avoids trying to distract with frivolous tangents.

Clinton: She is my least favorite, so I was surprised to hear she leads the polls. But, they were awfully hard on her, as she's the leader, so she had to deal with a lot of attacks. Regardless, she seems very political, slimy, and deceptive. Maybe that's just me. Either way, she seemed to be on the defensive in a big way, with Obama and Edwards really showing her up big-time.

Edwards: He's OK, but he seems a little political and slimy, too. Not as bad as Hillary, and he was pretty sharp, but he seemed very strategic and phony.

Biden: I've never seen him before, but he was actually pleasant to see up there. He's frank, smart, and fairly on-the-ball. He doesn't seem as smart as Obama, or Edwards, but does seem more honest than Edwards. Also, he seems a little quick in his decisions, not thoughtful. We've had one of those for a few years now...

Kucinich: I wish they'd give Kucinich more time. He's great to listen to. He is not political and believes strongly in his causes. Also, I tend to agree with him on a lot of things. That said, he doesn't even get any respect in this democratic forum. How is he gonna get it from congress, washington d.c. and the world?

The White-haired Jewish Guy (I mississed his name): He was funny. Irrelevant, but funny. He was pretty smart, to-the-point, and I liked him all right. He doesn't have a chance, though.

The other white-haired guy: Also irrelevant but pretty level-headed.

Did I miss anyone? I can't think of another one.

Republicans: Wow. Wow. Wow. These guys were like a normal political debate. They were stiff, full of sound-bites, and agonizing to listen to. Some of them were straight-up terrifying to listen to. I did like hearing so many of them say they'd eliminate the IRS and shrink government, though. Let's take a look...

McCain: When he was going against W in 2000 I wanted him to win. I liked him a LOT. He seemed level-headed, smart, and competent. I'm not sure what has happened to him since then. He acts like a robot, for one thing. He is a loon when he talks about terrorism and Bin Laden (I will hunt him to the gates of hell???? And I guess that means you're gonna blow all our money on this, regardless of whether Bin Laden matters anymore, or what the possible consequences are? Great way to handle a complicated problem and weigh all the options and issues...) I now would rather see just about anybody else president. Unfortunately, after looking at the other republicans, it's probably him or Juliani, right? Who are these other guys? He only said one thing I liked, when he talked about going to silicon valley to recruit billionaires for his cabinet and staff.

Giuliani: He really doesn't fit in with this bunch. And that's a good thing. He did well in NY, which is a diverse, complicated place: much like the world. I think he is keyed into the reality of the world well enough to be able to get things done. Some of the other guys up there seem to come from the twilight zone.

Ron Paul: Never heard about him before today when I kept seeing his name pop up in comments on the democratic debate page. People wanted him to be the republican to win, so that it'd be their favorite democrat vs. him, so that either way it was OK. That seems to be the way to look at these things anymore: hope that both candidates are OK so that it's OK whoever wins. Ron Paul is great. He's dorky, a little overly simplistic on a couple things, but I like his idea of government. He's a libertarian, not a Republican, and I hope he does well. Haven't checked the polls, but I'd be shocked if he made it. Who knows, though, that'd be cool.

The other guys: Yikes, yikes yikes yikes yikes. Especially the one guy who looks like the FBI dude from Greatest American Hero. Jeez, did that guy get teleported here from the 50's? 40's? His hair did anyway.

Anyway, I'm sure people are mad and all, but these are my picks, in order, by part, so far...

Dems:
Obama
Biden
Edwards

Repubs:
Ron Paul
Giuliani

I'd rather not see any of the others elected...


Issues?

Not sure on some of them, but here's a few thoughts:

War in Iraq: boy, we're in a sticky mess. I think we need to get out. We screwed up. Not sure how fast we should get out. I think Iraq will either come under the boot of another Saddam, who will be able to squelch the violence with said boot, or divide in to different nations along ethnic bounds (sunni, shia, kurd). The other moderate Arab nations have begun to come forward to take lead of the direction of their part of the world (Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.) and that is good. Hopefully they can work together, in their own interest, to settle things down and further their regional interests, instead of getting ensnared in some sort of regional ethnic war... either way, I don't think we'll solve it in Iraq. Also, isn't Kucinich right that they can just NOT approve ANY funding bill for the war, thus cutting it off? Sure, they need a quorum or whatever to override his veto, but that's to pass a funding bill WITH timetable. If they want to play hardball they just don't fund. Boom. Done.

What I fear in the war: Bush wants bases in Iraq from which to attempt to launch into Iran, and generally secure the middle east. We need not be the world's policemen. WE NEED NOT BE THE WORLD'S POLICEMEN.

Immigration: They're not talking about implementing the sort of immigration reform that I'd like to see, so I don't really care for the most part. However, I am against the REAL ID stuff. I think they need to be practical about it all.

Health Care: Conservatives don't want 'socialist' health care. Democrats want universal coverage. Personally, I wouldn't say that our current system is all that free market, what with the HMOs, insurance company cronyism, etc. I don't want to see a mandatory plan, that's for sure, or one that is gonna be financially unfeasible, or that encourages people to be unhealthy or reckless. I'm open to suggestions from all sides.

Abortion: The republicans are only talking about this because they're trying to rally the religious right votes, yet again. They'll bring up gay stuff again, too, and try to pretend that the world will go to total hell if a democrat is elected. I think Bush pretty well fulfilled that in his own unique way, too, though, so voting republican certainly doesn't save you from that...

Anyway, I think that's all I have right now. What did everyone else think?

Awesome VoIP phone AND a cool, cheap way to backup automatically!

This is a geeky post, I'll admit it. I've been meaning to let people know about these for awhile and keep forgetting. Anyway, this stuff is so genuinely awesome that pretty much everyone ought to stop wasting time and money, and just get it.

Linksys CIT-400

This is a skype phone. You plug its base-station into your router, and then you plug the handset in anywhere you want. It is wireless and functions just like a regular cordless phone, except it's a little snazzier with skype on it and such.

Here's the good part. You sign up for unlimited skype in ($38/YEAR!) and skype out ($29.95/YEAR!) and you get:
A regular phone number that anyone can call (you even get to pick it if you want)
Unlimited calls to the US, Canada, and I think parts of europe
ridiculously cheap long-distance to everywhere else
voice mail
an annual phone bill of $67.95

It is absolutely amazing. For the price of 2-3 months of local phone service you get a year of long-distance and local service.

Better still, this phone lets you plug in a regular phone-line, too, so you can choose one or the other when you dial out, if you so choose. It's perfect for trying it to see if you like it.

I have had great luck with it and am using it as my business line. The call quality isn't quite as good as a regular phone, but it's about as good as a cell phone.

Also you can add additional handsets and place them around the house. You can even do conference calls. WOW.


Mozy

Mozy is an internet based backup solution. It will back up as much data as you can throw at it, automatically, for $4.95/month. I don't know what else to say. I have shopped around and that is an unbelievably killer deal. I have also used lots of backup solutions and this one is dead simple. Once you set it up, which is easy, it just automatically backs things up roughly every HOUR. You might worry about it killing your internet connection but it only backs up changes, so it doesn't have to do everything every hour. I've yet to notice a slowdown due to mozy, either.

An external HD is around $100. That pays about 2 years of mozy. You'll need a new drive after 2 years likely, anyway, and the external HD might fail, fill up, or be destroyed along with the computer in a fire or similar disaster. Mozy is online and always up-to-date.

Additionally, mozy encrypts your data so that not even they have access to it.

Mozy also works for mac and windows.

Come visit during the rose festival!

The Rose Festival starts tomorrow, and looks to have some pretty cools stuff! There will be Tall Ships, some Navy Ships, Auto races, rides and stuff for kiddies, and more. If you wanna come visit in Portland, next week would be a good time to do it! I can't wait to see the sailing ships, take pictures of the fireworks and the starlight run, not to mention other things.

Let me know if you're interested. Maybe we can make an event of it if enough people wanna go together. Guests are welcome, too!

Bring it on baby!

64%Mingle² - Free Online Dating

Pics of Naiya

I hope I spelled that right.

Anyway, these are some pics of N that I took back when we were visiting Grandpa in the hospital. I hadn't really looked at them until recently when I was cleaning things out. Aw, isn't she cute :D

Sick but hanging in there

Well, I got sick a few days back. So, I'm coughing up a storm here. But, other than that I feel fine, and everything is going OK. I finally received some work from the real estate place I'm shooting for, which should provide some much needed moolah. However, it has also means I really really really need to get a wide angle lens.... for $700. That's in addition to the $900 telephoto lens that I need, too. And yes, need is pretty accurate. I really 'can't' take some of the shots I need without a wider angle lens for this real estate stuff, and for weddings, I definitely need a longer telephoto... Also, after advertising 1 day on a new site we received a job worth over $700. So, that ad paid for itself.

I've been talking with bankers, talking with advertisers, and will be talking with a lawyer today. All this stuff to do. I'm also looking forward to visiting Eugene soon.

I did manage to take some night pics the other day that I'll post eventually, and went to some party at Travis's (of Amy and Travis) brother's house. It was fun and laid back. Then, yesterday Sarah and I visited some old high school friends of hers who were in town and played board games. Haven't done that in awhile, but it was a rainy day out, so it was a good plan.

I also saw 28 weeks later the other day. Ooh, scary. It was fun. A solid sequel, and it actually lines things up well for a third movie. Looks like things are gonna get VERY ugly in that one...

And speaking of zombie flicks, during 28 weeks later they showed a trailer for the next resident evil movie: Apocalypse. Although the second one was terrible, who knows. Maybe this next one will be OK... maybe. The first one was so good!!!

I guess that's enough movie geekery for now, so I'll stop. Take care everyone.

Something cool

Just found this online...
Something cool

This is on one of my favorite blogs, btw, so if you read my prior intro to RSS, you can now subscribe to it, too, like me :)

How to subscribe to a blog

OK, this post goes out there to anyone who wants to know how to stalk -- I mean subscribe to -- bloggers.

There is a cool technology called "RSS". Does it matter what it stands for? With RSS, the blog will tell YOU when a new post has been made so you don't have to remember to check yourself.

N00b way to subscribe?

1. Use Firefox
2. Go to reader.google.com
3. If you don't have a google account (blogger accounts work unless they're really old) then make one
4. go to a blog
5. Click the little orange icon in the firefox url bar. It's on the right hand-side, left of the divider by the google search box.
6. Click it
7. Choose 'google reader'
8. The google reader page will come up asking you if you want to use google homepage or google reader. Choose google reader again.
9. Done. Have some coffee or something. Fire up reader.google.com to see if anyone has any new posts. This is great because once you're watching a lot of blogs, you don't have to visit them all. Just go to one site, reader.google.com, and it'll show you which sites have new posts. You can even read them right from reader.google.com. Awesome.

Note: there are other 'RSS readers' out there. Safari does it, as do lots of other browsers, some email applications, and stand-alone apps. I tell you how to do it with google reader because it is easy. There is also a blue "RSS" button in Safari that you can click. The resulting page can be added to your bookmark toolbar and will tell you when there are new feeds. For other RSS instructions, use google to find an answer.

Upcoming Eugene Visits

I will almost certainly be visiting eugene on these days.

May 26 -- Virginia and Morgan's Reception -- will probably come down saturday morning and stay through sunday, but at this point that is all flexible

July 7th -- Wedding Shoot -- yes I know it's on my birthday. It's a great birthday gift as far as I'm concerned: Money :) Anyway, that's on Saturday, and this time I'll almost certainly stay 'til Sunday to visit people and such for my B-day.

July 14th -- Another wedding -- Just Saturday at this point unless someone has other ideas...

That's it so far, at least as far as scheduled business trips in eugene are concerned. Drop me a line if you wanna get together any of those days and we can make it happen.

Cool places in portland

I've manged to get to a few places around Portland that are pretty cool and worth checking out. First off, we're in 'North Portland'. It took me too long to realize that all those division names (N, NE, NW, SE, SW) simply referred to what the street name started with. If you're on NE Broadway, then you're in NE. If it's NW, then you're in Northwest. Like I said, took me too long to figure that out. Anyway, I've mostly been hitting up places in N because they're convenient, and it's no fun to have to go all the way across town for coffee.

So, in no particular order: cool places I've found in portland!

Coffee:

AJ Java -- It is off Portland Blvd, and has several other locations, too. Nice atmosphere, the roast their own beans, internet access, and reasonable prices. Oh, and they have a couch. I like coffee shops with comfortable seating. That's one of my main requirements, so they pass.

Madrona Hill Cafe -- A nice little cafe + coffee shop. They also have comfortable seats, fresh, friendly decor, and they're even closer to my new place than aj java. I'm sure I'll go there a time or two.

Movie Theaters:

Bagdad Theater -- This one isn't all that close. It isn't even in N. But, it's still pretty neat. It is down on Hawthorne (SE). BUT, they are supposed to be cool. Actually, I haven't even been there yet. But it's a McMenamins location, which is a good sign. They also had a big lebowski night awhile back that I was, sadly, late to. But they serve REAL FOOD at a theater. How much better can it be?

Hollywood Theatre -- Also near Hawthorne, this theatre is OK. It reminds me a lot of the Bijou or the Mcdonald Theatre, except before it was converted. It's an old theater, sells popcorn, and shows funny/obscure stuff. I went to the zombie film fest 'Zompire' there on Saturday. Some of the shorts stunk, but some were really funny. They didn't have any that were scary, but a lot were about zombies in love. The last, and most entertaining, was called 'Zombie Love' and was a musical about a zombie guy and a normal human girl falling in love. The story was ridiculous, obviously, but it was hilarious.

St. Johns Cinema and Pub -- This one I haven't been to, but found it the other day. They show movies for $3.50 matinee, and $6.00 in the evenings... and that's for new movies. They aren't a 'cheap theater' showing old movies. They're showing Spiderman 3 and Shrek 3 there now. Looks like they don't have many prices, but it must be comfortable as they serve pizza, beer and movies, apparently. Sounds OK.

Restaurants:

I'm gonna forget some of these, but that's OK. There's a lot up here. I'll never go to them all. Oh well. Actually, I'll do restaurants later. There's too many.

OK, I think that'll be it for Part I. Part II to come later. Maybe with pics... oh, and I'll have some neat night pics of the docks and skyline, too :)

The Office/Studio Pics!

I am finally getting around to putting the studio pics up. Yay! It is unfinished so far, but I'll show pics later once we paint it and get all the supplies. Waiting on the income to settle out fr that. :)

Pictures!

So, one of my goals for today was to upload some pics for everybody! I realized that there was wireless available here, so I can upload. I couldn't this morning, though, as I'd left my power adapter at the studio. Drat. But, I retrieved it... and left my camera, with memory card, at the studio. Now I have the internet and the power, but no pics or camera. But wait! I have my old crappy camera! So I took some more pics with it. No studio pics, but some of the house. Here ya go!

The Dining Room - only place I get wireless signal


Living Room - Check out the plants! Thomas (the guy we rent from) owns a construction company and remodels houses and such. He also gardens a lot. I'll have to show backyard sometime...


Next 2 are kitchen




Stairs to basement...



Looking out the door at top of stairs



And the bedroom. It's a disaster and we're still unpacking. I have the pirate flag up, though :)





As you can see, the bedroom is actually pretty big. And those basement windows open, and let in a lot of light, so I'm happy.

Arrived in Portland, safe and sound!

This is a quick post. I will add some pics later when I get them off my camera. I forgot the card reader, and have to use internet at a coffee shop to even post, so I probably won't be able to add them until tomorrow.

The house is really nice. Lots of old charm. Also Sarah and I pretty much have the run of the basement, which includes a fairly large bedroom with windows, a large bathroom, and all the storage in the laundry room. Upstairs is really nice, and the backyard is huge with cool raised beds.

The studio is coming along nicely. We're going to be picking out colors to paint it later on. The whole place is mostly unfinished, but that's OK as it means we get to choose the colors. It is rectangular, twice as long as wide. We'll be hanging a fabric partition right down the middle to separate the studio from the office stuff. As such we'll have a studio and office about 20 feet square. It is great, and I can't wait to get studio lights.

Every once in awhile I think that I should be saving money and not have the studio yet, but then I remember that we'd have to rent an extra room if that were the case, for our desks. The studio is only $300/month, which is less than any bedroom. So, this is a killer deal for us. Makes me happy.

I'd write more but the coffee shop closes soon and Sarah still has to check her email. Keep watching for updates and pics!