Preventing the Next Disaster

In an attempt to prevent the next disaster, I built a run off area on the back side of the storm drain. My hope is that if the storm drain gets clogged again, the water will have a place to go, other than under the house. It was a lot of work, but hopefully it will make a difference. I lined the side with large stones to direct the water down the hill and away from the house. Once it gets past the house there is a large patch of ivy that the water can disperse in. The next question is, do I need to fill it with stones or will they just wash away?

The Repair Begins

The worst part of the storm drain overflowing is having to fix the damage. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday digging out the mud and replacing the stones on the stairs that washed away. It was especially bad under the house, where a ton of mud had caked all my tools and everything else I store down there. The worst part is that I hurt my back helping the plumber move out the old water heater, so digging and lifting big buckets of stones was not very comfortable.

I ordered a yard of stones and the only way to get them down to the lower part of the yard, is to carry them down the stairs in old paint buckets. Before you can do that, you have to dig out all the old stones that are saturated in mud. I also decided to dig out a flat floor in the crawl space and put some stones down there. That turned out to be a good decision as it is a lot easier to get down there an access everything now.

Dinner and a Movie - Pal's Shanty and Raw Faith

Pal's Shanty is a classic Portland restaurant. It has been around for a long time but looks like a dump from the outside, and the inside for that matter too. We rolled up at 6 PM on a Friday night and it was already full. We managed to get the last table over on the side "extra" area. We were in a little bit of a hurry, so we didn't read the menu as closely as normal. We jumped on the chowder and a couple of specialties, the steamed clams and the Louie Salad, half shrimp and half crab. We also got a couple of beers. I have to say, the food was great and the service was good too. Unfortunately we ordered way too much food. The steamed clams came in a huge bucket and Barbara was only able to eat half. My salad was also huge and I ate as much as I could, but there was about one third left. We then had a big debate about whether or not to take the clams home or not, can you reheat clams? We decide yes. Next time I am there I am going to try the open faced crab sandwich, it is highly recommended.

The main event of the evening was a movie called Raw Faith. It was directed and edited by my co-worker Peter Wiedensmith. It premiered at the Nashville Film Festival and began a three night run at the Hollywood Theater in Portland tonight. Luckily we had booked tickets in advance as both the Friday and Saturday night shows were sold out. In brief, the film is about a woman who decides to retire as a minister from the Unitarian Church in Portland after 17 years. While she is excited to move on with her life, she is also very lonely. Originally the movie was going to chronicle this major life transition, then life took a wonderful twist and she fell in love for the first time in her life. The name of this movie could not be more descriptive. It is very raw, I can't believe anyone would let a film crew have this much exposure to their lives. And as far as faith goes, I really wish I had found out about this minister before she retired, he sermons sounded amazing.

I am not sure if this movie will get another run, but they are working on a distribution deal, so hopefully more people will have a chance to see it.

Pal's Shanty
4630 Northeast Sandy Boulevard
Portland, OR 97213-2074
(503) 288-9732

Open Weekdays 11am-11pm; Sat 12pm-11pm

New Water Heater

As I posted yesterday, we had a flood in the basement and our water heater was fried. We decided to replace it with a tankless heater this time, so we could get it up off the ground. It is more expensive than a high end tank heater, but it has some advantages. The most important one is that it never runs out of hot water. The water comes in then goes through a heating coil, so you have continuous hot water. It is also much more efficient, as you are not constantly heating water you are not using. Finally, you are not storing any water, so nothing can get in and contaminate the water. According to the plumber they are finding a e-coli in tanks all over Portland. The only con is that it takes a little longer to get hot water to the sinks and shower upstairs.

The first shower I took after it was installed was perfect, plenty of hot water and plenty of pressure, but it still hurts to have to spend all that money.

Disaster Strikes Again

Every fall, Barbara and I are on Storm Drain Watch. All the falling leaves can clog up the storm drain outside our house and water will flow down the hill, washing away all the plants, top soil, stones on the path and eventually clogging a bunch of mud around the water heater. This kills the pilot light and it usually takes a few days before it dries enough to light again, so we have no hot water. We have tried building a run-off drain on the side of the storm drain, but the water is so strong it washed out the sides and still went under the house. We have tried to build a dam to sop the leaves from getting to the drain and that created a huge swimming pool in the front yard, that eventually went down the hill too. This is getting to be a serious problem now that it's happening in the spring as well as the fall. We need to find a permanent solution or get a new house. It is no fun having to go to work to take a shower.

Dixie Mattress Closes

If you have ever driven down SE Belmont in Portland you might have noticed the Dixie Mattress Company at 3326 SE Belmont across the street from the Zupan's grocery store. The reason you would have noticed it is that (a) it's called the Dixie Mattress Co and (b) it had big rebel flags on either end of the sign. It really stood out in this hippie neighborhood and I always wondered how they got away with this openly racist sign, and furthermore who would do business with them?

The second question seemed moot as the place always looked like it was closed and locked up. Turns out, the place was owned by two old sisters that did mattress repair and they literally did not care what people thought of their sign. They were from the South and proud of it.

Well, this point of controversy is now gone and all that remains, for the time being, is the sign on top of the store (pictured). The rebel flags were quickly painted over as the storefront is papered up for rehab. The Dixie Mattress Company is closed for business. While I am glad this raciest sign is gone, it is still weird to see this old part of Portland die.

Red Lobster

Every now and then, usually once a year, we have to satisfy Barbara's need for lobster and crab legs. If you want to eat a lot of both of these, and you don't want to cook them yourself, there is really only one cost effective place to go... Red Lobster. I have to admit that I don't look forward to eating there, but it's never as bad as I remember when you actually get there. They start you off with delicious garlic biscuits, but you have to be careful not to eat too many as the portions are very big. The best app is the crab stuffed mushroom caps. It is laden with cheese and at this point you have probably already eaten the daily recommended calories for a full grown adult.

Now it's lobster time. I went for the Ultimate Feast, which includes a small lobster tail, fried shrimp, shrimp sauteed in garlic butter and snow crab legs. It also comes with a very pedestrian salad and average french fries. I probably should have gone with the baked potato or the grilled vegetables. Barbara got the lobster tail and snow crab legs and was very happy with both. Neither of us had room for desert, but the options looked pretty good.

At the end of the meal, I felt like I didn't really get my money's worth. Red Lobster is pretty expensive and for what we paid, we could have eaten at many better restaurants in town. There was plenty of food, but none of it was very tasty. It was all pretty bland and it was hard to tell the difference between the shrimp, the lobster or the crab. Next time, I think we should try to make our own ultimate feast and see how it turns out.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway

You could spend a lot of time arguing over which Hemingway book to include in your top 25. The usual suspects include, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Old Man and the Sea. All very good candidates. I choose For Whom the Bell Tolls, because I was in Spain and got to see many of the settings as I read the book. It always makes a book special if you have some familiarity with the subject.

The story is based on Hemingway's own experience in the Spanish civil war, just prior to WW II. We follow Robert Jordan as he is assigned to blow up a bridge. He meets up with partisan soldiers and falls in love with a young Spanish woman, who opens his eyes to the horror of war. Franco's fascist forces win the war, but Jordan does his part to make it as hard as possible.

After reading the story, it was interesting to talk to different generations of Spaniards about the effects of Franco's rule. In 1987, many of the older people talked about how Spain was safer under Franco and how it was better without all the immigrants. Most middle-aged people were glad to see him go and said that the increase in crime was the cost of freedom. Most college aged and younger people, had grown up without Franco, who's rule ended in 1975 and spoke harshly of his regime.

Job Interviews

I had a strange experience the last two days, I interviewed people for a job that does not report to me, nor would the interviewee even work at Wieden+Kennedy. One of the non-profit organizations I work with asked me to sit in on their interviews for a new Marketing Manager. I worked closely with the previous person in that position as a member of their marketing committee, and they thought I would bring a good perspective to the position. I was flattered to help, so I went over for two of the four interviews.

Both of the interviews went well, but it was a challenge. First I had to remember this person would not be working for me and that I needed to hold them up to the standard of the organization, not W+K's. Secondly I had to come up with good questions. The good questions part was the hardest. Again you have to think of questions pertinent to the job they are interviewing for, not just stuff you want to ask.

The biggest difference is how informal we are at W+K. I usually never have questions planned out in advance. I like to treat interviews like a date, if you don't like the person and you can't imagine spending a lot of time with them, then it's probably not going to work out. In the real world, I think you need to be much more objective.

Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones

I know I choose Some Girls as my Rolling Stones representation in the "100 records you should own" but Exile on Main Street is probably the Stones best record. The good news is you have another chance to buy it. They have just released a new 2 CD set with outtakes and new versions of a few original cuts. The outtakes are especially interesting because Mick Jagger went back and wrote new lyrics for a few songs that were never completed. There is nothing here that beats "Tumbling Dice" or "All Down the Line," but it is great to hear some new music from this era.

And what an era it was. The Stones had left England and were in "tax exile" in southern France. They made the record in a dank studio in the basement of Keith Richards mansion, and it was a huge departure from previous records. It was rock and roll, it was excess, it was everything the 70's would become.

Monday's Off

For the first time in a long time I took Monday off and now I am addicted. Having that extra day makes the weekend so much more enjoyable, plus you miss out on Monday, the worst work day of the week. I have heard of people taking off Friday, but this does not make any sense to me. Friday is a fun day. You are getting things wrapped up for the weekend. People feel bad if they ask for something after 4:00 PM. If there is ever an office party, it's on a Friday. Nope, Monday is the day to miss. I only wish there was a way I could make it permanent and only work four days a week. Unfortunately people have tried that here and they end up taking a pay cut and still doing the same amount of work. Oh well, a person can dream.

Belated Birthday celebration

Today we celebrated my mom's birthday just over a week late. We got her some stylish new Nike sun glasses and dinner at the Bombay Cricket Club, our favorite Indian restaurant. She was very happy with the glasses and the dinner was very good too. It's funny how you really like a place, but it falls off the rotation for a while for no reason. We stuck to our standard dishes, buttered chicken, chicken coconut curry, lamb vindaloo, and the Jhinga Jalfrazi - jumbo prawns sautéed with saffron, fresh cut vegetables, touch of lemon, masala sauce and cream. The one new twist we added was jalapeno nan bread, which was excellent.

We need to get back there more often.

Bombay Cricket Club
1925 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214-3817
(503) 231-0740

Doggie Dash

This morning was the Oregon Humane Society's 23rd annual Doggie Dash. This is one of the biggest events Barbara puts on all year and it is a huge undertaking. There are three events you can take part in. One is the bridge to bridge run, which is 2.5 miles, there is also a walk on the same route and finally a short walk down Interstate and back up the waterfront. Of course everyone does this with their dogs. This year there was a record breaking crowd of over 6,000 people. We took both our dogs down to participate.

The day began with a ride into town on the MAX. I don't think the dogs enjoyed that very much, they were shaking the entire time. When we got there we enjoyed the pancake breakfast that the volunteers were making and took a walk around all the booths - everything from the pet hospital to Starbucks. At 9:00 AM the runners took off and at 9:20 the walkers followed. There were a lot more walkers than runners. Luckily the weather was great, so the walk along Naito Parkway to the Hawthorne Bridge was great, but this i were we hit the first bottle neck. The crowd thinned out as we crossed the bridge and walked along the eastside esplanade to the Steel Bridge and back to the start. We didn't stick around too long, but there was a lot of food and music for those that did.



This evening was the pinnacle of the restaurant tour with dinner at Genoa. We started with a great cocktail, Italian sparkling wine with a scoop of sorbert. Genoa serves five courses for $55 and you get a choice of pasta and main course.

The first course was Fregula con Cocciule- Puget sound clams steamed in a soffritto of garlic, parsley and tomatoes then baked in their shells and served with Sardinian couscous. This was followed by the choice of Culurjones de Patate- delicate pasta stuffed with potatoes, and mint tossed with butter, fava beans and topped with grated Fiore de Sardo cheese or Malloreddus- traditional handmade semolina pasta flavored with saffron and shaped like little gnocchi served in a savory ragu of pork and veal flavored with rosemary. The salad course was Insalata de Ricotta Pecora Fresca- a composed salad of creamy sheep’s milk ricotta with fresh English peas, pea shoots and grilled green garlic drizzled with Sardinian extra virgin olive oil. For main course there was the option of Aragosta con Bottarga di Tonno- broiled Maine Lobster with smashed baby turnips and wilted turnip greens finished with a complex sauce of lobster essence and cured tuna roe or Quaglie con Funghi e Ortica- Pan roasted quail stuffed with wild mushrooms, nettles and herbs served over grill asparagus and finished with a Cannonau wine reduction or Arosto di Agnello- roasted leg of Oregon lamb served with roasted fingerling potatoes and artichokes and topped with a rhubarb and caper compote. I had the lobster and it was excellent. I also tried a taste of the lamb which was very rich and delicious. For desert we decided to go with one of each of a creamy lemon zuccotto, rhubarb crostata, and fried ravioli dolce with orange blossom ice cream.

Overall the meal was amazing and the service was top notch. Genoa is back in a big way.


Genoa Restaurant
2832 SE Belmont
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 238-1464

Fixing Up the Yard

Today was a long day of yard work. We began with a trip to Home Depot to buy some plants and some Round Up. The day alternated between clearing the weeds and dead plants and putting in their replacements. The one great surprise was that the dogwood tree we have in the front yard, that I thought was dead, had some new shoots of growth. So, instead of throwing it away, we cut it back and replanted it.

I am also making an all out effort to grow grass this year. I thatched all the moss and spread grass seed on half the yard a month or so ago and that is starting to look pretty good. Today we raked out the moss on the other half of the yard and spread grass seed on it. I also went back and over seeded the first area to hopefully fill in the gaps. I don't know how successful this venture will be as the back yard is very shady due to all the trees we planted when we first moved in.

As a reward for our hard work, we had a great dinner at Nostrana. We stuck with our regular order, the Insalada Nostrana, which is a ridicchio caesar, and the charcuterie plate to start. Then we got the Margherita pizza with arugula and prosciutto and the Diavola pizza with spicy sausage that were both excellent. Their wine list is a little expensive, but I have found a Barbera D'Alba from Filippo Gallino that is a steal at $27. It was also nice to say hello to Chef Cathy Whims, who was nominated for a James Beard award for best PNW restaurant.

Nostrana

1401 SE Morrison Street
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 234-2427

Mom and Dad In Portland

My mom and dad arrived today; they will be staying until Tuesday. We have several nice dinners planned and they are going to help me get the yard in shape. We started the eating with some sushi at Sin Ju. As usual the food was great. The Lake Oswego roll is one of their best rolls, it's tempura shrimp surrounded by crab, with tuna on the outside. They also add a secret sauce that puts it over the top. The salmon, snapper and scallops were all great, the only thing I did not love was halibut.

Sin Ju is well located on the Jamison Square, the fountain is nice to walk around when the weather is good. Tonight there were a lot of kids splashing about and a few dogs looked like they were cooling off too. It's a great place to take people from out of town as it is vibrant and lively.

Acupuncture

Today I got my first acupuncture treatment. I have had pain in my neck off and on for over four years and I have tried a lot of things to stop it. Getting a massage helps a lot, as does getting a chiropractic adjustment, but nothing has cured it. I am not sure it can be cured, but I am always open to trying new things that could help. So, yesterday I got a bunch of needles stuck in my ears, arms, legs and neck. The good news is that it doesn't hurt as soon as the needle is in. The thing that I did not expect is how intense a small needle can be on your muscles. By moving the needle around you can make the muscle twitch and start to release. After a few minutes of this the muscle starts to feel like it has gotten a real workout.

After it was over, I could still feel some pain, but it was greatly diminished and I had a lot better range of motion. It's a little expensive, but I think I'll try it a few more times to see how it works out.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan nominated to Supreme Court

President Obama announced today that he is nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Ms. Kagan was the first female dean of Harvard Law in the school's 186-year history and the first female solicitor general of the United States. If confirmed, Kagan will be the fourth woman ever on the Supreme Court, and, for the first time, the Supreme Court would have three women serving together.

Democratic Senators are already saying what a great choice she is as the conservative interest groups have begun to assail her and pick apart every speech she has ever made. It should be a fun approval process.

Mother's Day

Some days I wonder why I live so far away from the family. Mother's day is one of those days. We went out to play golf and the clubhouse was packed out with families taking their mom's out for brunch. Meanwhile my mom only gets a card and maybe some flowers. Everyone at work helps their kids make plans to do something special with their wives, but our dogs have not made any plans for Barbara. Maybe I should have helped them, but you would think they are old enough to take care of this on their own.

Barbara did get a little Mother's Day love as she joined her sister and her niece for lunch on Saturday. Next year we all need to make a better effort.

Zen and the Art of Motercycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

If you have never heard of this book, let me start by saying it is more about zen than motorcycle maintenance, although some of that is in there too. The book is the story of a three week motorcycle ride across America with the author, his son and two friends. There are a lot of philosophical discussions along the way, thus the zen. There is one discussion I remember about motorcycle maintenance, as the friend on the ride, does not know anything about the workings of his fancy BMW motorcycle, but that gets a little philosophical too.

I read this book in college and in the story the author is a college professor, I remember because he refused to tell students their grades on tests until the very end of the class. I thought this would be very interesting and it caused a lot of discussion with my classmates as it did in the book. Almost everyone thought it was a bad idea, but it works out well in the book.

So, why should you read this book? Reason one, it is the best selling philosophy book of all time, despite being rejected by 121 publishers (a Guinness world record). Reason two, you might learn a little something about philosophy. And finally, reason three, it's a good story.

The Tiger Woods Learning Center

Yesterday I took a trip down to LA (Anaheim to be exact) to tour the The Tiger Woods Learning Center. Unfortunately Tiger was not there, but it is a pretty amazing place. It is a huge building on 14 acres of land with a driving range and a putting area. However, it is not a golf academy. The TW Foundation was founded in 1996, by Tiger's dad Earl. The idea back then was to try to get kids interested in attending a session by offering up a little golf, then getting them into a life lesson course. Then in 2006 they built this great building where they offer classes in everything from nutrition and money management to rocket propulsion and marine biology. The first, and still most popular class, is in forensic science, where kids can learn how to test for finger prints and solve mysteries.

The Learning Center serves kids in the Orange County area from elementary to high school, with all kinds of classes. You can attend an eight week program or drop in after school and work on the computer of in the video lab. They also help kids with AP classes, SATs and college applications. If you get into college you can get scholarships and find mentors that can hook you up with a part time job. Basically they do everything they can to help you achieve your goals of getting a better education as long as you are willing to commit and do the work.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My holiday reading concluded with another dive into the Nordic thriller genre. This time I tried the best selling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This is the first book in a trilogy that are now all available in English.

The underlying theme of this book is violence against women, which seems to be a real problem in Sweden. The book opens with Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist, having just been successfully sued for liable. After his conviction, he takes a break to work on the family history of a very eccentric and rich Swedish industrialist. Along with this assignment he is tasked with finding any new insight he can into a 40 year-old murder case. As you can imagine the book takes a lot of interesting twists and turns with this murder mystery. Then just when you think they story is over, there is a second chapter that circles back to the original libel case.

At almost 600 pages, this book is a page turner. You may loose a lot of sleep trying to get to a good stopping point once you get started. Unfortunately Stieg Larsson died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, but at least there are two more books to tackle.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is the author of Going After Cacciato a Vietnam war novel that won the National Book Award for fiction in 1979. I have not read this book, which is strange as I love all books having to do with the Vietnam war and this is one of the best. His follow up novel, The Things They Carried, was on sale at Powell's Books, so I picked it up for my vacation reading.

The Things They Carried is a strange book as it is billed as fiction, but it feels very real when you read it. It is composed of a dozen intertwined, first-person stories of the author's tour of Vietnam, but again it's fiction. Further confusing matters, the narrator in one of the stories makes a distinction between "story truth" and "happening truth." The authors tells us that no war stories are technically true, it's the ones that bring the experience to life without concern for total accuracy that make it easiest for the uninitiated to understand what war is really like. If that was his goal O'Brien does a great job. The mundaness of humping your way from village to village is interspersed with horrific stories of loss and callousness towards the enemy, as well as the difficulty of returning to the real world and letting go.

This is a great book and I look forward to reading Going After Cacciato.

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Tinkers is one of the four books I read on vacation in Kaua'i . None of these books were very long, so it's not that many for a week. I had to take better care of Tinkers as it is a first edition Pulitzer Prize winner, so that meant keeping it in a plastic bag when I was at the beach.

Paul Harding was formerly the drummer for a band called Cold Water Flat. This is Harding's first book, and he wins the Pulitzer. Where do you go from here?

The story is hard to explain, as this book is more about the writing than the plot. George Washington Crosby is a tinker, a man that repairs clocks. As the story begins he lies dying. In his mind he travels through his life, where he is reunited with his father and relives an interesting and painfully impoverished New England youth. Epilepsy and it's effect is the common thread that runs through the family. It is a sad and at the same time heart-warming book. It is great to see that a small book like this get so much notoriety.

Toro Bravo & Secret Society Lounge

Another weekend another James Beard award winner. Tonight we tried yet another of the well reviewed restaurants that have cropped up on NE Russell St., Toro Bravo. They do not take reservations, so we tried to get there before 7:00 PM to beat the crowd. Our plan did not work, the place was already swamped and we had an hour wait. Luckily there is a great bar (and restaurant) next door called the Secret Society, however it was also packed out. After a short wait we were able to get up to the bar and order a couple of Derby Cocktails, which were a very nice bourbon drink. This is a great place and will get a return visit at a later date.

So back to Toro Bravo. We got the call on our cell phone about 50 minutes after we checked in that our table was ready and we got a seat at the "kitchen bar" which looks into, you guessed it, the kitchen. The place was going like a fair, so there was a lot of action in the kitchen and it was a good show. The service was very good. We got a great wine recommendation from their Spanish heavy wine list and some good menu recommendations too.

We started with the French Kiss, brandy soaked prunes stuffed with foie gras, and the Duck Liver Mousse Terrine with morels & house made sidra mustard. The mousse was amazing, but I will pass on the French Kiss next time. For our "entrees" we tried the Seared Scallops with romesco; House Smoked Coppa Steak with olive oil poached potatoes, chopped olives & salbitxada; Drunken Pork with avocado salad; and the Grilled Asparagus with fried jamon, olives & preserved lemon. These were all amazing, but we ordered too much and took most of the steak home. For desert we had the Molten Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream and the Lemon Curd Crepes. We were sitting by the desert chef and these were two great recommendations. You should know, the menu changes daily, so these things might be there when you visit.

And visit you should. This place is great and well worth the wait.

Toro Bravo

120 Northeast Russell Street
Portland, OR 97212-3791
(503) 281-4464

Secret Society Lounge

116 Northeast Russell Street
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 493-3600