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MESSAGE SENT, FOLLOWED BY REGRET AND HOPE

The message sent about Portland Oregon is one of hope. When the homeless set up camp, Portland hoped they were comfortable. Protest marchers clashed with Portland police hoping for change. Rival groups faced off. The message sent to them, to us, was there would be no police involvement. I suppose the hope was they would […]

BEST LIFE TO LIVE IS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE

“Live your best life,” they say, but what’s it really mean? I’m pretty sure ‘they’ don’t mean take a page from the bi-polar play book and create new personalities based on internet scrolling. Mental health is no laughing matter, but what is it about some people who display red flags and call it their best […]

A BIKE RIDE TOO FAR WITH DUBIOUS REWARDS

A good bike ride is a cause for celebration and a good bike makes all the difference. Better yet, a good bike seat makes all the difference. But there’s more: bike shorts with a big old pad, water and food for a longer ride, and the determination to finish what you started. That last part […]

FEELING BAD? THINK OF OTHERS WHILE YOU SUFFER

Feeling bad, as if it’s not enough, comes with extras, like those trying to help you feel better. Think of them while you’re in the throes of misery. Whether you know it or not, your suffering is their suffering. They feel better when you feel better. This came up at a recent gathering of some […]

MARRYING KIND? HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE

Being the marrying kind takes practice. Eventually things work themselves out. From the relationship vault: A few weeks into a sizzling new romance, Lovey and I were in my Lovejoy apartment late one night when the building buzzer started and wouldn’t stop. I got up and pushed the front door button. After all, the place […]

PORTLAND BRIDGE RUN AND RESCUE AFTER DARK

This is my favorite Portland bridge, the Hawthorne Bridge. The picture makes it look longer than it is on foot, or on a bike. When I lived on the west side, I had a job on the east side and crossed it twice a day. Then I moved to east side and worked on the […]

IMPERFECT GOALS? NO ONE SAID YOU HAVE TO BE PERFECT

Imperfect goals are a good reason to write, to explain, to instruct. It doesn’t take a licensed teacher with three masters degrees to understand the pressures of perfection. “Do your work the best you can and let it stand” is the right motto for moving forward. The hard part is watching it all get torn […]

ADVERSITY TRAINING ONE BLOG POST AFTER ANOTHER

Adversity training comes from two sources: Those who have faced adversity, and those who will face adversity. Pro Tip: We all face adversity. How we deal with it tells others who we are. While I’m not an adversity trainer, or in adversity training, I am a man and therefore qualified to add senseless context to […]

WINERY REMINDER: KNOW YOUR TASTING GLASS

This is a winery reminder for Oregon wine country: If you buy a flight of wine to taste test, keep track of your glass. A seven-wine flight doesn’t mean seven glasses. But you probably know this. Since I live within shouting distance from one winery after another, now I know.

EVERY DAY IS A NEW CHANCE FOR SMALL CHANGES

Every day has promises to keep with miles to go before we sleep. Sound familiar? It was a poem written by an old man named Robert Frost. When I first read ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ I chalked it up to a reflection on mortality. Reading it now, instead of a high school […]