5 posts tagged “portland”

So, thank you for your concern, guys. I kept it to side streets, and when the odd SUV would come through, I would get the hell out of the way.

and I've got to tell you, that was the most fun I've had in a long time. My bike has fat tires, so it has decent traction, not that that helps all that much. I wasn't going very fast, and when I'd be coming to a stop, I'd be hitting the coaster brake long before the stop.

But there is nothing like not being in a car, and not being on a bus, on a snow day. The whole public transit thing seems to bring out this huge whineyness in people that is just not becoming. Oh my gawd my bus was so late, why doesn't the bus company serve me cocoa on the bus....

But people on the ground, either walking, or bicycling, or even in their SUVs -- they seem almost reverent of the snow, of the way it dampens the sound and gives an innocent, sweet quality. Everyone is in a good mood.

And so, that was my ride. It took forever, but I watched a pile of kids who were so excited about the snow. I chatted and smiled with many folks in my neighborhood.

I stopped at the bakery and got a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee, and I watched as the snow piled up on my seat. Hey, I brought a towel, who cares? It was just nice in a way that life hasn't been nice lately. And then I rode home.

I hope getting a little bicycling in will help my insomnia.

Cute but needs less food

2 comments

Dear work -
Sorry, can't come in today. I have a cat on my lap.
xxoo vj

I do have Natasha on my lap. Of the four cats, she is very fussy about being pet, she appears to not like it at all. And then occasionally, she'll jump up on my lap and demand pets and purr like crazy.

I am taking the day off today to work on the big GIS project, and pack for our thanksgiving trip. We're going to head up the mountain for a couple of days, hopefully eat too much, drink too much, and laugh too much. I was actively freaking out about the trip until the last day or so, but now, I'm really looking forward to getting out of town.

The GIS project is coming together, I think. I need to do a presentation next week on fixed rails' impact on density. I was initially thinking about this in terms of Portland's streetcar suburbs, but I haven't been able to put my hands on a digital data of the streetcar/cable car/interurban lines, and of course, you can only really get useful census data from 1990 forward. Of course I could plot a line or lines, and of course I can work from some other data (qualitative rather than quantitative like zoning codes and building built dates) but it would be a lot of work, and not really what the instructor is asking for. (Though I really want to do it!!)

1912Map

So, new plan is look first at the changes in density along the MAX light rail line through West Portland, Beaverton, and Hillsboro (since the line went live in 1998), and then if I get time, I'll plot a streetcar line or two and show the density 70 years later.

It's been so much fun researching this, though. I spent one afternoon at the Oregon Historical Society's Research Library pouring over old, hand-drawn maps, and reading through some neighborhood histories, one evening at Reed in their thesis tower looking at transportation, zoning and planning related theses, and the better part of a day looking at frontier history, civil engineering and transportation books as well as Sanborn maps at the PSU library.

So today's task is to get the MAX light rail portion done, and hopefully, transfer those layers into photoshop so I can shine 'em up. And pack, and pick the turkey and take the dog to dog jail the kennel.

they really, really love us!

In the second of Newsnight's series on finding the best public services in the world, Conservative Party Vice Chair Sayeeda Warsi reports on efforts to overhaul public transport in one US city.

BBC2 Newsnight

Free Prize Inside: The Next Big Marketing Idea

It's Seth Godin's new book. Not that I've read Seth Godin's old book.  But I'm very interested in his psychology of sales. And how can you go wrong with that cover -- it's brilliant!

I read about it on Rael Dornfest's blog (which I'm reading in a google cached version -- the real url isn't loading. So no linky for you).

It appears as though he (Dornfest, not Godin) lives in Portland. I thought there might be a connection between him and platial -- but no. I can't believe I haven't investigated platial earlier--it seems like just the place for a geographically obsessed person like myself. Must. go. immerse.

So, now I'm here. I've wanted to be here, vox, for several weeks now. I love the idea of being able to share things privately, and publicly, to have one place where I can direct friends and colleagues. I've been on livejournal, but, that hasn't been entirely satisfying. I've had my public personal blog, in which I speak freely--sort of, not really. Or I do speak freely, and then worry about it later.

So now I am here. But where are my friends? I'm thrilled to be an early-adopter, but right now, if I do speak freely... well, will anybody hear? I know that things will progress, I know that I will have friends in this space, but right now, it's a bit odd. And perhaps that is what punctuates many of the entries that I'm reading: this sense of, who am I writing for now? And how will anyone find me?

In the hopes of integrating my vox life and the rest of my online life, here goes:

• I am looking for a job. I'm very into organic search engine optimization, and interested but without a lot of experience in PPC. I'm interested too in information architecture, though I don't have a lot of formal experience. My resume site is at http://www.vjbeauchamp.com. I'm also very obsessed with alternative transportation & communications, and I'd love to move into that area.
• I live in Portland, Oregon. Right now, I'd like to work in Portland, Oregon too, though perhaps later that might change.
• I write a 5x a week blog called altportland. Someone I don't know described it as "Things that do not suck, in Portland. Site has a really odd format, midway between an events calendar and a reference wiki." While I wouldn't exactly call it a wiki, it is a guide to what to do in Portland. I'd love to somehow integrate my love/obsession/stalking of Portland into something like work.
• I'm a librarian by training. I just got my MS-LIS in 2004, concentrating on digital librarianship & technical services. I did the distance program at University of Illinois. Great program, loved it intensely and deeply and all that. Now I wonder if I will ever actually work as a librarian. Not that I'm bitter, oh no.
• I'm a bicycle commuter. As a teenager, I was a manic bicyclist who participated in the Belle Isle Double Century. After college, I broke down and bought an expensive, gorgeous hybrid bike, and on my first ride, got doored. I spent a summer unable to walk. In the last three years, I've worked hard at regaining my confidence, and while I am a lousy slow bicyclist (mostly because I'm fat), I bicycle almost every day now, in traffic, on bike lanes, and downtown--things I never would have been able to imagine a couple years back. I currently own a pink Townie 3-speed, which I totally bought because of the color. It's a great bike if you don't have to deal with any hills, or are in great shape. I've been riding my Sweetie's Townie 24-speed, which is much better on hills. But the Townies are too long for our public transportation bike racks, and I'd like to have the option to wuss out every now and again and take the bus/MAX.
• I'm working on getting into the bike fun community here. They're pretty welcoming...
• I'm the sort of person who appears really outgoing. But I'm really shy.