Doubt

Based on John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer winning play, Doubt stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymore Hoffman. Set in the Bronx in 1964, the story focuses on the struggle between Hoffman's character Father Flynn who is trying to modernize the church and the school's principal, Sister Aloysius, played by Streep who rules with an iron fist and is desperately trying to hold onto the old ways. As her mistrust of the priest grows she accuses him of molesting the school's only black student. While there is no firm evidence, she is tenacious and will not let the issue drop. Amy Adams plays a young nun who at first accuses Father Flynn then believes he is innocent and that the Sister is out to get him. Viola Davis makes an amazing turn as the young boy's mother.

While the acting in this film is amazing, and the subject matter well treated, the movie somehow under delivers. As is often the case with an adaptation of a play, the movie seems small. It's as if the film makers did not take full advantage of their medium and played out the stage story with a few extra sets and some nice exteriors. There are some great twists in this film and of course as the title suggests you left to make up your own mind on what really happened. One question we all asked as we left the film, did Sister Aloysius suspect the wrong boy was being molested?

Camellia Grill is open

The famous Camilla Grill is open again in New Orleans. If you are
looking for a great breakfast or a slice of pie, get in line.

Shooting with Eddie

Eddie is setting up his rifle to hit a target at 400 yards, that's
four football fields to you and me. He is a high master marksman,
which means he can put 45 out of 50 shots into a bullseye at 600 yards.

Barbara hit a 9 and a 10, two and four inches from the bullseye, at
400 yards.

Antoine's Restaurant

It's sometimes hard to admit when tradition has over taken the importance of good food and service, but New Orleans will do that to you. Once again we made our yearly trip to the restaurant/museum that is Antoine's. Established in 1840, Antoine's is the country's oldest family-run restaurant. It was badly damaged during Hurricane Katrina, but after a rocky rebuilding the dining room looks as nice as ever. There are over 15 rooms you can dine in, but it is my firm belief that if you are not an old New Orleans family you just get stuck in the main dining room with all the other tourists. The food can be great, but it can also sometimes taste like you are at a very expensive cafeteria. I would recommend going with the classics: Crevettes remoulade (Boiled Louisiana shrimp served cold in Antoine's unique remoulade dressing) as an appetizer, Filet de truite Pontchartrain (Grilled trout with lump crabmeat sautéed in butter) as an entree; and Omelette Alaska Antoine (Antoine's very special presentation of Baked Alaska for two) for dessert. The Sunday "Jazz" brunch is a great alternative if you do not want to invest in a three to four hour dinner, and keep you eye out for the fixed price menu offerings. Antoine's is very expensive, so dress nicely and don't forget your American Express card.

Antoine's Restaurant

713 Rue Saint Louis

New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

(504) 581-4422

www.antoines.com

Pat O's

Stopped in for a drink at Pat O'Brien's after a great dinner at
Arnaud's. A couple of Purple People Eaters for the ladies.

Another Great Christmas

A white Christmas in Portland, but we were in Houston. As always it was great to see the kids open their presents and see the looks on their faces when the Converse shoes I gave them were all at least a size too big. "They'll grow into them," "better too big than too small," all the words you want to hear when people open your presents!

Prejean's Restaurant

Every year we spend Christmas in Houston, then drive down to New Orleans for the new year and every year we stop in Lafayette for lunch at Landry's. This year we decided to switch it up a little, so I went on-line to find a place that was not part of a chain. The NY Times had a great article in the travel section called 36 hours in Lafayette in which they recommended several restaurants. After a little research I decided to give Prejean's the nod. The first good thing I noticed is that it is pretty easy to get to, just a couple of miles off the I-10. The second thing is they serve Cajun food, a must for this road trip. The only drawback is that they are a little pricey.

Started in 1980, Prejean's is now a Cajun institution. They do all the expected things right and they have a few surprises on the menu. We tried the seafood gumbo and the chicken and sausage gumbo and both were great. The french bread and salad was also very nice. For our entrees we had the shrimp festival - which was all things shrimp: fried, stuffed, blackened and barbecued - and the award winning crawfish ettouffe, which came with a great crawfish pie. The portions were large, so it did not leave any room for desert, which is a shame as the pecan pie looked great.

If you ever find yourself travelling the I-10 and you want a change from the regular chains, do a little research and I am sure you'll find an interisting local place. Isn't that why you got that iPhone?

Prejeans Restaurant
3480 N.E. Evangeline Trwy. (I-49)
Lafayette, LA 70507
(337) 896-3247

http://www.prejeans.com

Texadelphia

Texadelphia started as a hole-in-the-wall in Austin, Texas. We ate there a lot because it was on the way home from the graduate school and because it is really good. The first location has gone upscale and there are now several locations in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The main food item here is a Texas cheesesteak. I say Texas because I don't want Philly fans to get all over me and say it is not athentic, it's not. It's a Texas take on the cheesesteak that comes with chips and salsa; you can also add one of several sauces, my favorite is the original mustard blend. You should also order some queso to start with. As they have grown, Texadelphia has added chicken cheesesteak and a few other sandwich options as well as chicken tenders and hamburgers for the kids.

Multiple Locations
http://www.texadelphia.com/

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are you Experienced

Like most kids my age, I didn't start listening to Jimi Hendrix until after he was gone. I heard the older kids playing his music in the mid-70's and I really fell in love with this record when I made a brief attempt to play the guitar in th early 80's. I had the over sized Hendrix poster and the Hendrix live VHS that we wore out, but the funny thing is I never really learned to play any Hendrix. My guitar teacher was obsessed with Eric Clapton and used a lot of his songs as teaching tools. I guess that was for the best as Hendrix can't really be imitated.

Galveston, Oh Galveston

We drove down to Galveston yesterday to see the damage from hurricane Ike, which hit last summer. It is still a mess down there. Not as bad as New Orleans, but there are a lot of houses with blue tarps on the roof as you drive into town and a lot of signs that have been blown out. When you get on the Island, there is a lot of damage in the poorer part of town, where the construction is not very good. We drove along the seawall out to Pirates beach and the larger high rises all look pretty good. it is hard to tell if they were undamaged or if they were repaired quickly. Some of the older looking apartment complexes were more badly damaged with a lot of siding off and the lower floors flooded out.

When we got out to Pirates it was strange how some houses looked very badly damaged, and the ones right next door were fine. One thing that was universal was the ground floor storage rooms were all flooded out. If you had a garage it is gone. When we got up to the waterfront the damage was much more obvious. Almost every house had sustained major damage and looked like it would have to be rebuilt as the foundation was gone. However, this maybe hard to do as the beach seems to have been washed away and the water was almost coming up to the first pilings of the houses. There were a lot of large trucks pushing sand back towards the beach that had washed up onto the land. Because of the tidal surge all the vegetation in the area was dead, making it look even more stark.

The bay side seemed to have less wind damage, but you can tell they had a big tidal surge too as the ground floors are all damaged and being rebuilt. There are a lot of very expensive houses in this neighborhood and the construction projects seem to be moving along faster. Maybe they got faster payouts from their insurance.

On the way back from Pirates to downtown things got worse as you travelled east. The captains Table, a well known local haunt that has been there for years was totally destroyed. The nicer hotels seemed to do OK, the San Luis and the Galvez were both open and looked like they were doing good business. The Flagship Hotel out on the pier was closed and had a couple of huge holes in the side and the foundation of the pier looked like it was crumbling. UTMB looked like it did OK as well as the port, where there was a large Carnival cruise ship. The streets around UTMB did not fair was well. There was a lot of damage and it did not look like any rebuilding had begun. In fact UTMB has laid off half their staff and there is not longer going to be major medical services available in Galveston, all the more reason to leave the next time a hurricane comes through.

The last place we stopped was the Strand. Almost all the stores and the bars looked like they were closed. Most troubling, Col. Bubbies, "The free world's only surviving AUTHENTIC military surplus store," was closed. I checked the web site http://www.colbubbie.com/ and it is up and running, but there are no store hours. Another troubling site was the Tremont Hotel, the nicest hotel in Galveston, did not look open. The website says it only sustained minor damage and will be opening in early 2009. So the strand was very quite, I even heard people were out selling stuff on the sidewalks during the Dickens Christmas shows as the stores were not open.

On the way out of town we saw a few more positive signs. One, all the historical old houses looked undamaged. The Moody Mansion looked fine as did most of the buildings around it. We also saw that the renovations on the Galveston Daily News building were almost complete and that they will be moving back in soon. Started in 1842, this is the oldest newspaper in Texas. The bad news is there is not going to be as much to write about when they do get up and running, as I think Galveston will go the way of New Orleans and be a smaller city in the future.

Thank You Bus

While I will never stop making fun of bus people, today I want to say
thanks to the bus and the bus driver for getting us to work on days
like this when no one should be driving.

Courtside at the Blazer Game

Jesse and I scored courtside seats for the Blazer game against
Sacramento last night. We also got to see Terry Porter's number 30
retired.

The Boys are Ready for Christmas

The boys have their Christmas sweaters on and are ready for the
holiday parties to get rolling.

It's Snowing!

We woke up to a blanket of fresh snow this morning as predicted. It looks great out there, but it is hard to get around. We have already heard that chains are required on all highways and there have been a lot of closures. The Humane Society closed around 1:00 p.m., but some hardy souls made it out there as there were six adoptions this morning.

We took a walk up into Mt. Tabor with the dogs, which was beautiful, but you don't want to walk into the wind as it whips the snow into your eyes. Should make for an interesting day getting to work tomorrow.

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

I am not sure that I agree that The Stone Roses spawned Brit Pop, but I do agree that this record was revolutionary. I had never heard anything quite so self assured in a first record before this. I can see how songs with titles like "I Am the Resurrection," and "I Wanna Be Adored" could lead to the likes Liam and Noel Gallagher, but I choose to forgive them if they did spawn Oasis, this record is that good. Stone Roses emerged from Manchester in the early 80's and had gone through a major line up change by the time this record was released in 1989. Part of the Madchester scene that included James, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, etc. this was their only real success. A record company dispute delayed a second record for over four years. During this time they went through another line up change and seemed to loose momentum.

The Country Cat Dinnerhouse and Bar

Chef Adam Sappington spent 11 years at Portland's Wildwood Restaurant under one of Portland's pioneering chefs Corry Schreiber. The experience paid off in the casual, family-friendly dinnerhouse he has opened on SE Stark. The Country Cat offers great food and service and the chefs wife, Jackie, prepares wonderful desserts. There is a full bar with some great cocktail offerings, including a large selection of bourbons. The wine list is moderate, but takes care of business as the prices are reasonable. We started with the squash soup which was a warming treat, given the terrible weather we were experiencing. We also had the liver pate appetizer and the braised beef entree, both were outstanding. I looked on jealously as the table next to us received my second choice entree, the hamburger. A good reason to come back.

The Country Cat

7937 SE Stark

Portland, OR 97215

503-408-1414

http://www.thecountrycat.net/

How much stuff do you need on the bus?

I have heard a lot about kids carrying huge backpacks to school and suffering lower back pain due to the strain, but as far as I can tell this women is fully grown. I wonder where she is going with all that stuff? Is this the begining of a trek across the world?

TheTrek to Katmando, day 1: Today I loaded all my gear and began my 30 day trek to the other side of the world. They say the first step is the hardest. As I waited for the number 15 bus I wondered what adventures lay ahead for me. I still had a long walk ahead from the 3rd street bus stop to the train station, there would be many obstacles ahead. Unfortunately I left my ticket on the dresser drawer and had to return to my apartment. I will begin again fresh tomorrow.

Moby - Play

I thought Moby was OK the first time I heard him, but can you trust a memory from some show out in the middle of the California desert, which you had to travel two hours to get to and many of the finer details (like how you got home) are missing? Many of my friends were heavy into techno when I moved to LA and all I could think was, didn't this suck the first time when they called it disco (at least the clothes were better). I also had a hard time with the hours, techno was no 11 pm to 2 am club outing. Usually it was well past midnight before you finally found the "venue" - an abandoned building in Long Beach, a VFW hall in Riverside or a turnoff in the middle of the desert. The djs seemed willing to play as long as you were willing to stay or until the police finally came and sent everyone home. I heard a lot of music I liked at these shows, but it was hard to find out who put out the records as the djs were very protective. Finally some good compilations came out and for a few months in 1991 a radio station in LA featured only techo music. Most of this music has not survived, but a few stars emerged: Fat Boy Slim, Chemical Brothers and most notably Moby. Play is Moby's most commercially successful record, but if you are feeling brave, you should also check out his first, self titled record Moby from 1992.

The Who - Who's Next/Live from Leeds

Like any male music fan my age, I love The Who. I've seen them in concert a dozen times, I love the movie Quadrophenia, I have the concert video with Keith Moon, but it wasn't until I started writing this that I actually looked at the records I own: Who's Next and Live at Leeds, that's it. For some reason I thought there would be more. Then I looked at their discography, and you know what, these are the only two Who records worth owning.

Most of their biggest hits came from Who's Next, and Live at Leeds captures the band at it's best, live. The rest is like their final concert tour, never ending repeats. So to prove my point, here are the songs you'll find on Who's Next: "Baba O'Riley," "The Song is Over," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Won't get Fooled Again." Throw in an amazing version of "My Generation" on Live from Leeds, and you have all the Who you'll ever need.

Del Frisco's Steak House - Ft.Worth, Texas

Chances are you'll never need a restaurant recommendation in Ft. Worth, Texas, but if you somehow find yourself hungry and your wallet full, I would suggest avoiding all the cheap BBQ and Tex-Mex joints downtown and treating yourself to one of the best steaks you'll ever eat. Del Frisco's is everything you'd expect in a steak house: dark, wood paneled, intimate, overly helpful waiters, great wine list and of course huge amounts of delicious food. The wine list was impressive and a little on the expensive side. We ordered a nice bottle of Oregon Pinot for about $10 more than you'd normally pay in Portland. We started with the Shrimp Rimulaud, which was the perfect combo of tangy and hot. To accompany our steaks we added some king crab legs, which were as good as any I have every had. Of course the steak was fantastic, but you may want to get it cooked a little more than you normally do, as rare is practically raw in Texas. Still have room? There is a great list of deserts, including a classic cheesecake. If you are not in cardiac arrest by the end of the meal, the bill will put you over the top. Del Frisco's is not inexpensive, but it is worth every penny.

Del Frisco's Steak House

812 Main St.

Fort Worth, TX 76102

(817) 877-3999

www.delfriscos.com

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

I really wish I had learned Spanish. I am not sure I would have understood all the Dominican slang in Junot Diaz's wonderful book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but at least I would have felt a little more on the inside. Apart from speaking Spanish, it will also help to know that the vast majority of the story is about Oscar's Mom, sister and the larger Dominican experience. The book is footnoted with hugely informational insights on Dominican history that can feel a lot like learning, but don't let that scare you off.

Oscar is an overweight young man who spends his time writing sci-fi and dreaming of the day he'll hook up with a girl. While he is prolific at the first endeavor, he is woefully lame at the second. He falls in love easily and with the wrong people and in the end this leads to his demise.

While this is a highly readable story and the historic footnotes are a great element, it is Diaz's narration style and tone that make this an excellent book. He writes in a modern hip hip style that moves at a fast clip and is rich in vernacular. Diaz also was the deserving recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2008.

Professor Longhair - Rock and Roll Gumbo

If you are looking for that original New Orleans rock and roll sound look no further than the 'fess. Professor Longhair perfected the boogie woogie sound that NOLA is famous for with Dr. John, etc. This record originally came out in 1977 and features all his classics: Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, Jambalaya (On the Bayou), Tipitina and my favorite version of Stagger Lee. I suspect he was playing in and around New Orleans for many years before he cut this record as there are so many of his most popular songs on it. There are also some pretty well know musicians helping him out, not least of them Clarance "Gatemouth" Brown on guitar.

Knitting seat warmers?

I have always wondered how some people can treat the bus like their living room. You see people sprawled out across two seats sleeping, people reading hard cover books - I know this is not so strange, but honestly is it worth carrying that heavy book for 15 minutes of reading? - people putting on make up, and as I have documented before people talking about intimate medical issues in loud voices. Today I saw a first. There were two women on the bus knitting. They had a bag full of wool and several big needles. Again I have to wonder is it worth bringing all that stuff on the bus for 15 to 20 minutes of knitting, then it hit me: maybe they're knitting a little blanket for the homeless guys fake baby.

Baby on board

I see this guy on the bus almost every day and at first I thought it was a little strange that a old, homeless looking guy was carrying a baby. When I looked a little closer I saw this is not a real baby. This guy is stuck in high school home economics class taking care of a fake child. Now the truth is I have seen him a lot and he still makes me chuckle every time I see him get on the bus, but the best thing is watching other people's reaction. Today the woman sitting next to him had this happy look on her face as he walked past her, as she looked in to see the "baby's" face, she suddenly freaked out and became horrified. Priceless.

Duking it Out

The Dukes Course was built in the mid 90's by the Old Course hotel to have a place they could put their rich guests if they couldn't get a time on the Old Course. It's a parkland or in-land course, built on dirt as opposed to sand, so the knock was that it never drained well. When Koler bought the Old Course hotel, they also put a lot of money into redoing the Dukes Course. The renovations have turned out really well. They completely redid the last three holes and it seems to be a lot less marshy than it was in the old days.

I would recommend the Dukes Course if you are looking for a change from all the links golf in St. Andrews. It is a challenging course, especially from the back tees and the views are great. You can see all the way across St. Andrews on the 13th. I think the course plays better in the summer when it is dry as it can be a muddy slog if it has been raining a lot. There are a lot of bunkers and forced carries on the longer holes. The par threes are all interesting with tough greens. A lot of people take carts on this course as it can be a long walk from tee to green and the climb back up the hill on #9 and #18 is challenging. That said, if you are in half decent shape this will be an easy walk for you. The good news is that the food in the club house is great and it also has some of the best views in town, so plan to stay for at least one drink after you play. We stayed for lunch and I had a great burger and Dad had a giant portion of fish and chips, both were very reasonably priced.

Because it was quite cold and damp when we arrived this morning, we decided to play off the white tees. The decision paid off as I was out in 39 and back in 44, my best score in a long time.

Storming the Castle Course

We stormed the Castle Course in St. Andrews yesterday and the walls held. Without a doubt, I would say this is now the hardest course in Scotland. It is long and there are a lot of hazards. Most courses here rely on the weather to protect them, the Castle Course has a many well placed bunkers, high grass mounds in the middle of the fairway and tricky greens, so even on a sunny day this course would be a challenge.

Let's address the mounds first. They have been dubbed "Don Kings" by the locals as the stick up out of the fairway and have high grass on the top. They are well positioned, protecting the main landing areas on the fairways of several long holes. If you get behind one, all you can do is take a lofted club and hit over it, so they usually count for at least a one stroke penalty. Less conspicuous but just as deadly are the bunkers. While they are mostly off the fairways (unlike the Old Course) they can be very steep and difficult to hit out of. A miss-hit will again cost you at least one stroke. Another hazard that comes into play is the North Sea. This course hugs the coast much tighter than any of the other St. Andrews Links courses. There are several holes that a ball hit too strong into the green will carry off the cliff and into the water. The most dramatic hole on the course is the 17th. It is a 220 yard par three that plays into the the prevailing wind over the water. Both the tee and the green are on high points as close as you can get to the sea, with about 200 yards of carry over an inlet. It seems to be inspired by the famous hole at Cypress Point.

The final challenge, if you ever make it there, are the greens. There is not a flat area on any one of them. Even with all the rain they have had, they were still very fast. It is not hard to hit a put that almost stops at the hole, takes one more turn, then picks up speed and rolls off the green. There is even a story of a New Club member who putted off the green in a competition and couldn't find his ball. The grass mounds and the greens are a huge source of controversy. Almost everyone I talked to said the course is too hard. The greens keepers I talked to said there are plans to shave a few of the Don Kings back this winter, so the course will look different next year. The bigger issue is what to do with the greens. There are no easy pin placements and in the summer they can only get faster. I doubt they will invest the time and money to completely redo them, but some changes will have to be implemented. Overall this is an amazing course and a great addition to the St. Andrews Links arsenal, it'll be interesting to see how it changes over the years.

After the golf, we hit the New Club for a couple of pints while my Dad figured out that Mom had her Visa card stolen in Barcelona. They were walking down the street when a young guy came up and asked directions in English. A minute later two guys who said they were police, asked to see what was in their pockets and purse as they said this was an area well known for drug deals. Even though they were suspicious of the situation the person claiming to be a cop was able to lift my Mom's Visa card out of her purse. Luckily Chase suspected something was wrong and denied the charges as they tried to buy a bunch of electronics and cancelled the card. A good thing to remember when travelling if something feels suspicious, trust your instincts and get out of there.

We had dinner at Ziggys, a great steak and burger place that has been around for just over 20 years. They started out as a take out cart, then moved up to a store front, then in 1985 moved into a great space behind Ma Bell's. We had the nachos and quesadillas to start, which were both great, then we all had a burger and chips which was huge and very tasty. We closed out the night with a beer at Ma Bell's, a bar I used to work at back in 1987. It has gone a lot more upscale since I worked there. Monday night was open night mike and there was a young guy singing county songs that we could not understand a word of because his Glasgow accent was so thick.

Saints Win in London

A big win for the Saints in London tonight against San Diego. We watched the game at the golf club before a great dinner at the Balaka, our favorite Indian restaurant in St. Andrews. We mixed in a few curry dishes with chicken tikka, garlic nan bread and Indian beer.

The day began with a traditional English breakfast around brunch time. Then Stephen and I played the New Course. We both played pretty well, but the putting woes continue. I went out in 41 and back in 50. In my defense we were hit with a squall around the 8th hole that left us both very wet and cold. We dried out but never really warmed up again.

Looking forward to playing the Castle Course tomorrow.

Windy Start in Scotland

My brother Stephen and I arrived in St. Andrews, Scotland around 11 AM on Friday morning. After a quick lunch we got straight to the golf, we were able to walk on the Old Course with a couple of local guys just after 1 PM. The sun was out, but it was very windy, I am guessing there were gusts around 35 mph. We both played pretty OK considering we just spent 12 plus hours sitting on a plane. One of the guys we were playing with didn't look like much of a golfer, but he was only one over after nine, which is pretty impressive given the conditions. Stephen had a great par on 16, I hit a great drive, but left my second shot and my first put way short. On 17 I watched everyone draw the ball perfectly over the sheds, in one case almost hitting the hotel. I whimped out and went way left leading to a double. On 18 I had a first, my shot stopped dead in the middle of Granny Clarkes Wynd, the road that crosses the course. I punched a low running shot off the road to within 15 feet, but missed the put.

That night we hit the Central pub for a couple of beers and a great dinner. They have a different pie every night and so far I have not been disappointed. Last night it was a steak and ale pie that was amazing. We hit the wall about 8:30 PM and still had to walk back from the pub. I was pretty happy to hit the hay and slept for 12 hours.

Today we played the Balcomie Links course in Crail and it was windier than I can ever remember. On the first tee the wind was so strong I couldn't stand up straight. There was also no one else on the course which was erie. Dad decided not to play and walked around with us instead as he is playing in a competition tomorrow at Kingsbarns. I don't blame him, it is not a day you would like to go outside never mind going for a four hour hike. Luckily Crail is a short course, so we didn't have to walk too far. Unluckily it is one of the most exposed courses on the Scottish east coast, so you get the full force of the wind. Stephen and I both played well, but we could not make a put. It is very hard to judge the speed of a put when the wind is gusting over 40 mph.

Tonight we are heading out to dinner at the Vine Leaf, one of my favorite restaurants in Scotland.

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba- And Then Lost It to the Revolution by T.J. English

I saw an interview with T.J. English on The Daily Show with John Stewart and John talked this book up a lot. I have to say I agree. Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba- And Then Lost It to the Revolution is an amazing overview of the mob scene in Cuba after the second World War. Cuba, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the mob were a perfect fit. The Batista government welcomed Mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano with open arms and allowed them to operate casinos, brothels and night clubs unfettered as long as they got their cut.

While the mob stories are very interesting in their excesses and detail, the thing that makes this book a great read is the way English weaves the story of Fidel Castro's communist revolution into the mix. In fact, it is amazing that Castro ever succeeded, as inept as his group was they were able to overcome Batista because he was blind with greed.

If you are looking for a fun read with a little history mixed in, you will enjoy this book.

Eminem - The Marshal Mathers LP

There are many reasons to have the Marshal Mathers LP in your collection, but the song "Stan" is the number one. Who would ever put Dido and Eminem together? This is a scary, dark, confessional song that on the one hand creeps you out and on the other makes you laugh. I loved Dido's comment about this song, "finally my little brother likes one of my songs." I like this song and I like this entire record.

Cell Phone Abuse

Why is it that the worse a person's life is going the louder they talk on the cell phone. You never hear anyone say, "I just got engaged" or "I won a million dollars" on the cell phone, mostly you hear people talking about intimate medical issues or how bad work is going. For the most part people on the bus seem to be respectful when using their cell phone. They keep the call short or the cover their mouth with their hand when they speak. You do get the occasional meth head whining about how he lost his job because he was high for three days and forgot to call in sick, but usually not a big deal. Today was a new experience. A guy sitting right behind me yelled into the phone the entire trip. The weird thing is I think he was happy. I can't say for sure because he was speaking French with a heavy African accent, but he laughed a lot which makes me think he may have been conveying good news. He also talked a lot. It's a 30 minute ride into town and I didn't hear him breathe once. I suspect he was saying, "Hi my is Algeen and I am a prince from Nigeria. I need to transfer $5 million into my US account and if you are willing to hold the money for a week I will give you $50,000, all I need is a $5,000 deposit..."

The Doors - The Doors

You have to have a Doors record in your collection, the question is which one. I recommend their debut The Doors, probably the best debut record of all time. It has three of their all time best songs: "Break on Through (to the other side)," "Light My Fire" and the song that defines the band, "The End." I, of course, was not hip to The Doors the first time around. I bought in when they got big again in the 80's. I'll never forget the Rolling Stone magazine with Jim Morrison on the cover and the headline, "He's hot, he's sexy, he's dead." That about summed it up. The hottest band in the country at the time had not played together in years and the lead sing was dead. When you consider all the crazy stuff they got into when he was alive, I guess this makes sense. Like all wanne be hipster kids of my era I read, No One Here Gets Out Alive, the unauthorized biography of Jim Morrison; I wore my Doors concert tee; and when I was in Paris I made the trip to Père Lachaise cemetery to see his grave site. I'm still a fan.

Black Rabbit Restaurant and Bar at McMenamins Edgefield

We were out at McMenamins Edgefield playing the par 3 golf course yesterday when we decided to stay for dinner at the Black Rabbit Restaurant. We hadn't eaten there for several years and I had a little trepidation as I didn't remember it being that great. Those fears were quickly eased with a couple of good appetizers. The calamari and the bruscetta were both delicious. The tomatoes were so fresh and ripe that they really made the dish. The entrees were equally good, we had the fried chicken special and the flat iron steak. Both were huge portions, with plenty of food to take home. A lot of the vegetables are grown on the property which used to be a farm. Not just any farm, but the poor house farm. Debtors and indigents were sentenced to time at Edgefield where they worked on the farm growing their own food, in the hopes that is would teach them to be good contributing members of society. In the 1950's the building was converted to an old folks home. The in the 1980s it was abandoned and became dilapidated. The McMenamin brothers bought it in the early 1990's for $300,000 and put $3 million into fixing it up. When they opened there was the restaurant, a brewery, a winery, a movie theater and a dozen or so guest rooms (these are fun but modest with shared bathrooms). Since they opened they have added two par 3 golf courses, one is 12 holes, the other 20 holes; a wedding reception room; and an area where you can watch concerts on the side of the hill. We have seen Lyle Lovett there a couple of times and both shows were great.

Obviously there is a lot more to do at Edgefield than just eat at the Black Rabbit. In fact, I would strongly suggest heading out there around 5:00 PM on a summer night, and hitting the golf course before dinner. You can get around the 20 hole course in a couple of hours (less if it's not crowded). All the holes are less than 100 yards long, most around 60 yards, so you only need a wedge and a putter, which you can rent for $2 each. You should bring a few extra golf balls, cause if you don't hit them straight you'll end up in the blackberry bushes with a lost ball. Of course the best part is the beer cart that comes around so you can load up on one of McMenamins great beers. We recommend mixing the Terminator stout with the Ruby to make a Rubinator. You'll see there is quite a cult following at this course. People who have never played a real course, have played Edgefield hundreds of times and are really good.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

I am sad to say When You Are Engulfed in Flames is not the best David Sedaris book ever. Most of the stories are based on things that have happened in the recent past and they are just not was funny as the stories he tells of his family growing up. Perhaps he has mined all he can from that vein and this is the end of Sedaris. I hope not and I think the last, and by far the longest, story in the book gave me hope. "Smoking Section" is a great play by play account of the effort to quit smoking. Sedaris seems to have read every self help book that is available on how to quit, then decided to throw each maximum a curve. One recommendation is to change your environment, try to get away from the places you smoke most. For many this would mean cutting out the neighborhood tavern. Sedaris on the other hand took a month long trip to Japan, where smoking is the national pastime. The story is sprinkled with funny observations of Japan and his struggle to learn the language while going through some powerful cigarette cravings. Maybe he should have stretched this out into an entire book.

Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

I had heard Lucinda Williams on the radio a lot in Houston when I was younger, but for some reason Car Wheels is the first record of hers I bought. These are amazing, simple and perfectly composed songs. "Greenville" and "Lake Charles" are two of my all-time favorites. I have read that it took six years to make this record, which seems strange when you hear it. I somehow imagine her getting in the studio and recording every song in one take. I know this is a record that got a lot of critical acclaim, but in this case I have to agree with the hype, one of the best records of the 90's and one you need in your collection.

Running for the Bus

I am more likely to run for the bus in the evening than I am in the morning. The reason is that the bus comes by more often in the morning, so you don't feel the need to run. In the evening, if you miss the bus it could be 20-30 minutes to wait for another one. That said, the bus is more likely to stop for you in the morning if you are not at the stop.

In the morning I have a short walk to and from the bus stop. I walk down my street, then down a set of stairs to Belmont where the bus stops about 150 yards down the street. You have to be on Belmont if you want to catch the bus, there is no way you can run fast enough to catch it if you're on the stairs. In the evening, I walk up 12th to Salmon to catch the bus home, about a 10-15 minute walk. If you are about a block from Salmon and you see the bus, you can catch it if you run fast and you get a little lucky with the light. The problem is the bus drivers won't stop for you if you don't make it to the stop. Yesterday I saw the number 15 approaching as I was coming up 12th (you need to make sure it's your bus, you don't want to run for the wrong bus!) and I took off after it. I made it to the stop just as the light changed but the bus took off. I was pissed because I know the bus driver saw me. I kept after him and caught him at the next stop about a block and a half away. When I go on the bus a few people clapped and one guy said, "nice sprint." I was happy to make the bus, but it was a pretty sweaty ride home.

Battle with the Bike

They say driving a bus is one of the most stressful jobs in the country. Some psychologists put together a matrix that showed the higher your responsibility and the lower your control at your job, the more stressed you were. Bus drivers have a lot of responsibility, they have to keep a few 1000 people safe every day as they drive them around. But they have very little control over their job as the route and the time they have to get around is all dictated by a transit planner. So I was not surprised to see the bus driver go off the other day when someone defied his one little piece of control, the yield sign. I was surprised however that it was a cyclist that was ready to get into a fight with the bus.

When the bus signals that he is leaving the bus stop there is a yield sign that flashes. The law says you must stop and let him out. The other day a cyclist did what most cars do and ignored the yield sign, trying to get around the bus before he could leave. When the bus pulled out the cyclist smacked the bus and yelled at the driver. Usually that is the end of the story, however in a 20 year bus riding first I saw the bus driver stop the bus and go off on the cyclist about how she had broken the law and almost got herself killed. I have to say I was totally with the driver on this one. Too many cyclists disobey traffic laws and then get pissed at drivers when they almost get killed. Today I saw the same cyclist pull up behind the bus and stop. Hopefully she has learned a lesson.

Run DMC - Raising Hell

Obviously Run DMC's take on Walk this Way is the song that blew this record up for white people. You couldn't watch MTV for more than 10 minutes without seeing the video. It was truly the biggest cross-over rap hit there had been up until that time. I would even go as far as to say that this is the record that put rap on mainstream radio. It also changed the way rap had sounded up until then, with the heavy guitars it was a fusion of rock and rap. Walk is not the only game changing song on this record. My Adidas was the beginning of rappers featuring the brands the loved in their songs. Peter Piper, It's Tricky and Proud to be Black have all been endlessly copied, sampled and stolen. This is important record that is also still fun to listen to.

There's no accident too small for paperwork

Ever wonder what happens if the bus gets hit while you are riding it? You get to get off and wait for the next one. Turns out they have to fill out a report no matter how small the accident. Today on the bus, a van clipped the mirror and while it didn't seem like a big deal to me the bus driver went off. He started yelling at the van and then he got up to ask us if we saw what happened, but it was so subtle no one saw a thing. For a moment I felt like we were all denying it happened, but truly a bus getting hit on the mirror doesn't really rock the boat. The good news is we were already downtown so I didn't have to walk too far to work.

Portishead - Dummy

Again this is a band that you should own all their records, which will not set you back too much as they only have three. Speaking of three, Third is the name of their first record in over 10 years and it is an instant classic. But back to the recommendation at hand. If you only have one Portishead record in your collection, it should be Dummy. Beth Gibbons has an amazing voice which is layered over dark, mysterious melodies like an instrument. She sounds like she is in real pain, some kind of futuristic soul singer for the rave generation.

The Human Race

About 30 or so people showed up on Sunday morning to participate in the W+K version of the Human Race. If you haven't heard of it, the idea was to get 1 million people around the world to participate in a 10K run on the same day. There were 26 official race sites, including New York, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland in the US. The hope was to spur some competition between countries to see who could register the most runners, have the fastest time, etc. Looks like Portland won the US with an average of 58:33, but Vancouver B.C. edged us out for the North America overall win. I am sure the Portland times were lowered by all the fast people at Nike who hosted a race on campus. It looks like London was the fastest of all the host cities. I should move to Austin or Istanbul, whose average times were closer to my finishing time of 1:28:07, not very impressive. I haven't seen all our times, but at least I was not in last place, I beat Dan Wieden by 1:30! Even though I didn't set any records, it was fun to get out there and get running again.

Nostrana Restaurant

We hadn't been to Nostrana for a long time and we hadn't originally planned to go there last night, but we got a sudden pizza craving and we decided to give them another chance. When they first opened they were awarded restaurant of the year by the Willamette Week. What followed was hour long waits and a sever strain on the already mediocre service. While we always enjoyed the food the service was too bad to bear, so we dropped them from the rotation. Back to the present. We were seated right away, probably due to the holiday weekend, and were pleasantly greeted by one of the long time waitresses who recognized us. We stuck to the stuff we have enjoyed in the past, the Nostrana salad, a radicchio Caesar and the Margareta pizza with prosciutto and arugula. Both looked a little smaller than we remembered, but tasted great. We also had a nice bottle of Barbaresco, my only quibble being the wine list feels a little over priced. In a nice touch the waitress comped out desert, a great pear and Marion berry crisp, which was delicious. She told us they were glad to see us back, and I have to say it worked. I don't think it'll be as long between trips next time.

Nostrana
1401 SE Morrison St

Portland, OR 97214

(503) 234-2427