Farmer's market

PDX farmer's market is just like Madison, except for less cheese and no couterclockwise shuffling.


My one purchase was this Thai guy. It will set you on fire.

Here is one of the many bridges one can bike across in downtown Portland:

Reggie's

Being one block down from my house, Reggie's is the closest place for a guy to cut his hair. I'll say hi to Ice Cube and Cedric T. Entertainer for ya.

Seattle 2

Center field bleacher seats at SafeCo Field are $8 on gameday ($6 if you have the foresight to order in advance.) Not a bad deal for a little major league action. Sure, the players are a little tiny from out there, but it's still a good time.

Mark thinks that the many pricing tiers of tickets stratify the stadium into castes and buying center field bleacher seats is a way for parents to signal to their children that they are part of the lower class. Apparently the view is good from the ivory tower.



There was a lot of beer drinking and Texas Hold 'Em on Saturday afternoon. Dave perhaps had one too many.

Seattle 1

Kathryn and I took the Amtrack to Seattle last weekend to visit with some old friends. It was nice to get our minds off of all the things we needed to get done in Portland for a few days. Friday we walked down the hill from Dave's place to Pike's Place Market:


After we did a quick obligatory market walkthrough we found a nice spot on some grass in the shade and talked and looked out over Puget Sound for a good part of the afternoon. Actually, we might have stole the shade spot from a little girl who had run off for a second to chase some pigeons.

On our way to taking in a Mariner's game we stopped by the aquarium to pet some starfish and stick our heads through goofy octopus and jellyfish cutouts. Mark got a stern warning not to pet the sea anemones so hard.

This octupus was really cool. It was the size of a large dog and would slink through this plexiglass tunnel between two large tanks. Glad I've never run into one snorkeling.

Our House

We found a house to rent in NE Portland and are slowly unpacking boxes and settling in. A brief tour:

Front of the house:


Notice the lovely bars on the windows:

ManSpace:

Dining room:

Living room:

Yep, it's a house. We've got a tiny guest room with an air mattress so come on out here and visit!

How To

How To, originally uploaded by ErikOl.

How to bring wine on the train.

Your Mom Is...

Here's a good feature of our new neighborhood:

Leaving in America

Kathryn and I made it to Portland and checked into McMenamin's White Eagle Hotel just a wee bit before 1am. Luckily McMenamin's is enlightened enough to allow you to order drinks at the bar just before closing time (1am) and carry them up to your room. In fact, a fellow can order a whole pitcher of beer and carry it out. Not too shabby.

All of our worldly possessions, however, are still making their way across the USA. We put the fragile stuff in a big crate that my friend Chris and I fabricated and the rest we shrink-wrapped on pallets (peep the above pics.)

The plane ride out here afforded me the time to finish reading The Human Stain. I recommend it. Here's a little excerpt that seems appropriate for this post:

"So much yearning, so much plotting and passion and subtlety and dissembling, all of it feeding the hunger to leave the house and be transformed. To become a new being. To bifurcate. The drama that underlies America's story, the high drama that is upping and leaving - and the energy and cruelty that rapturous drive demands."

Gary Coleman leads off for Mallards

24-9 2

IMG_0032, originally uploaded by ErikOl.

Poor Hayden took a Superman dive over his handlebars on the first lap of the race. Click the picture for more photos (mostly of our encampment.)

Around 30 people in our contingent for 24-9 this year, which made for a really great campsite. We had people doing the 24 Hour Solo category, 24 Hour Duo, 12 Hour Duo, 12 Hour Solo, etc.

LBC and I went up against somethin' like 60+ teams in the 12 Hour Duo and barely squeaked by a podium finish with 3rd place. Yes, it is hard to sit after riding 70 miles of rocky/rooty singletrack in a day.

24-9

24-9, originally uploaded by eholson1.

You're really car camping when you bring a love seat. More pictures of
the 24 Hours of 9 Mile mountain bike race coming soon.