"No one likes a quitter." -- KMS, 1990
"Daddy, your beard stinks." -- Louisa, 2008
So...Chantix.
Interesting stuff.
Fills the receptors in yer brain. The same ones that would normally be filled up by nicotine get filled up by this stuff.
The process is simple: you smoke away. Puff puff. You take a pill in the morning. Puff puff. You do this for three days. Puff puff. After day 4, you go to twice a day, PUFF puff. by day 5, those smokes are kinda tasting bad*, but PUFF PUFF you still need them.
At least someone among the Democrats understands what the people want: Accountability--and NOW, not next month or God forbid next political cycle. Jeff Merkley, who's running for the chance to take on Gordon Smith in 2008, has come out in favor of impeaching Alberto Gonzales.
As Ridenbaugh Press points out, this is practically the moderate position now, at least in Oregon:
Three or four months ago, you might have called that daring. Today, it’s a signal that Merkley’s aiming for the Oregon Democratic mainstream.
Indeed. Aggressive push-back against the administration is now the mainstream position.
So why is Patrick Leahy chickening out on the warrantless wiretapping probe? Why is impeachment off the table? Though I'm beginning to think at this point it's a distraction from finding out what's really going on in this administration, hearings can be an effective tool for digging out the dirt.
Mainstream Americans, let alone Democrats, are ready for some serious action. Why aren't our elected officials? By dithering, they're giving support to Ralph Nader's charge that there's no difference between the parties.
Now--you and I know there definitely is a difference. If the past few years haven't shown that, I don't know what will. So let's start acting like it, politicians, eh? We elected you in November to show some spine. So show it. Be Democrats, dammit.
Submitted by Lynns on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 10:27pm.
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On her blog and in email to supporters, Mabel's owner Cait Smith announced today that her ground-breaking and widely imitated knitting cafe will be closing within the next week or so:
I promise you that we tried very hard to prevent this sad turn - a number of factors have made this decision inevitable, including a saturated market in Portland and more crafters shopping online. ...
Starting this Sunday - August 12th - we will be having a storewide liquidation. All inventory will be 30% off, and we expect things to move quickly. We will open from 10AM - 6PM for the first two days, and will close at 4PM for the remaining 4 or 5 days.
On a happier note, I will be starting a new business in the same location, and many familiar faces will be right there with me. I hope you will all stop by at the end of August to check out our new
and expanded coffee house, complete with a children's area, free wi-fi, delicious coffee, bagels, treats, milkshakes.. ..all the good stuff. We hope to carry all of the coziness of Mabel's along with us.
The word is the new place will be called the Tandem Cafe and that most of the staff will be staying on.
Submitted by Lynns on Thu, 08/09/2007 - 7:40pm.
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Sign ups are going on now for SE tree plantings:
Sept. 13 deadline for the Nov. 17 planting in Sellwood-Moreland
Sept. 27 deadline for the Dec. 1 plantings in Hosford-Abernethy, Richmond and Buckman
Oct. 4 deadline for the Dec. 8 plantings in Brentwood-Darlington, Lents, Foster-Powell and Mt. Scott-Arleta
Nov. 15 deadline for the Jan. 19 plantings in Eastmoreland and Reed
Nov. 22 deadline for the Jan. 26 plantings in Laurelhurst and Sunnyside
Jan. 3 deadline for the March 8 plantings in Montavilla and Center
Click on "Order Street Trees." It's not free--there's a $75 charge--but that's out of $160 it actually costs to plant the trees.
Submitted by Lynns on Thu, 08/09/2007 - 3:59pm.
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The girls and I were driving home from Trader Joes this afternoon ("We found the wooden cat, Mom!") when I noticed Saigon Kitchen at 38th and Div was closed. And then I noticed big white signs in the windows. I immediately pulled over and tooled through the parking lot to get a better look at the signs.
Now, you need to understand that John and I have been eating at Saigon Kitchen since almost the day they opened 15 years ago in the down-at-heel shopping strip that used to stand where the OHSU Richmond clinic is now. It was our family restaurant, where we went for all kinds of celebrations big and small. When Josie was tiny, she and my mom played a game where Josie would be Mama (me) and Grandma would play Daddy and "Daddy" would have to say "Where do you want to eat?" and Jo would answer, "How 'bout Saigon Kitchen, hoonnnney!" We've called it Saigon Kitchen, Honey ever since.
So Saigon Kitchen closing? Big news at our house.
And sure enough, the sign said, and I'm paraphrasing, "To our valued customers: We've enjoyed serving you for the last 15 years but our family is moving on to other ventures. We will be closing at the end of July." (Yeah, I hadn't driven past in a couple of weeks.)
wah!
Submitted by Lynns on Wed, 08/08/2007 - 10:15pm.
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Well, sorta. You have to go there by foot, bus or bike, make your purchases and then Portland Pedal Power will bring your packages home for you by bike:
Q: Why are we doing this?
We are committed to our community and the Earth we share! We see the Portland community as leaders in the use of bicycles as a great way to move people and our stuff. We want to play an important role in the growth of sustainable transportation.
Q: How long will this service be offered?
We hope forever! This is a pilot project that will last through November 1st, 2007. Should it be successful (and we think it will!) Portland Pedal Power intends to provide contract delivery services to other businesses who value sustainability.
The service boundaries are SE Holgate to SE Hawthorne and SE 39th to the Willamette River. If you're outside that area, it's $5 per half mile. [via]
Submitted by Lynns on Wed, 08/08/2007 - 9:57pm.
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I was glad to read about this at News4Neighbors.com, especially since our upstairs TV is about to die. You can now recycle your TV in SE:
Bear eCycling has opened a television recycling depot at their SE Portland facility at 4532 SE 63rd Avenue. "Ever since we got listed on the Metro Recycling Hot-line as a recycler who can handle televisions, the phone has been ringing quite steadily." says company president Oso Martin, “As a commercial recycler, our trucks are really too large [to] provide cost effective pick-up from residential customers, so instead we created the public drop off option." ...
The increasing demand for TV recycling looks to only get larger as all broadcast television signals will be switched over to Digital Television (DTV) on Feb. 27, 2009, making all non-DTV units obsolete.
Yay for you, Oso! We may be seeing you sooner than later.
Submitted by Lynns on Wed, 08/08/2007 - 9:53pm.
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Nestor Perala, one of the great, great characters of SE PDX, has died. He was 84. Nestor and I knew each other for 25 or more years; he was one of the first friends I met in Portland, at the Gnostic meetings he'd hold at his gorgeous old house on Market Street (that I secretly coveted--I hope whoever has that house knows how lucky they are).
Later he'd come to the cafe John and I owned. We'd run into each other in some of the most improbable places and were never very surprised. He officiated at my first disastrous wedding (and we forgot to pay him!). We were involved in the Church of All Worlds together.
And at the end, we saw each other regularly at Wy'East Unitarian, where we were not at all surprised we'd both ended up. His daughter Christi said to us once at church, "So the Pagans have converted!" and we both said at the same time, "Not at all!" and smiled broadly over the pews at each other when the first hymn turned out to be a paen to the Goddess--probably the most Pagan hymn in the hymnal.
That kind of stuff happened around Nestor all the time. He was one of the people who was out there keeping Portland weird for a very long time. Now it's up to the rest of us.
We were not close friends, but we were good friends. Nestor, I will miss you. Have a good rest, dear.
Submitted by Lynns on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 12:44pm.
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Here are this summer's concerts in SE parks:
Sellwood Riverfront (Mondays 6:30 pm):
7/9 Teresa James (blues)
7/16 Jennifer Lynn (Americana)
7/23 St. James' Gate (Irish)
7/30 Melao de Cana (Cuban)
Mt Tabor (Tuesdays 6:30 pm):
7/10 Bodacious (gumbo)
7/17 Donna Jose & the Side Effects (blues/folk rock)
7/24 Norman Sylvester with Gretchen Mitchell (R&B)
7/31 Rhythm Culture (reggae)
Lents Park (Sundays 3 pm):
8/19 Founders' Day Celebration (starts noon with parade)
8/26 EZ Eddy and Terry Robb (blues)
9/2 Misty Mamas (American roots)
9/16 Wheatfield (country rock)
We have chickens and we can't recommend them highly enough. They are fun, funny and give eggs so good you'll never eat store-bought again if you can help it.
If you're curious about keeping chickens, you'll want to know about this:
Chickens in the City Workshop!
Growing Gardens in partnership with Americorps NWSA is hosting a
workshop for all Portland residents interested in raising chickens in
their own backyards.
· Learn how to care for hens in the city
· Learn how to design a fantastic chicken coop
