The Portland school board says it will burn $22 million in reserves rather than cut services any further in the coming school year. Let's hope their financial picture doesn't get any worse.

Fortunately, the Highway 8 Fire didn’t scar the Balfour-Klickitat day area. This is a nice easy paved walking path that takes you through a field of grass, thistles, and a few Osage Orange trees. A stone and mortar remains of an old shelter stands under a tree. The Balfour-Klickitat day-use area has a couple of [...]

A few photos of Portland's Wells Fargo Center, the tallest building in town, and one that tends not to inspire strong opinions either way. Everyone recognizes it, sure, but I've yet to meet anyone who's told me they particularly lo

Sofia came to spend the day with me today. Rain was predicted so I tried to think of something, not TV, that we could do indoors. Maybe something a little creative. I went to the craft store on Sunday to see what they had that a 3 year old might enjoy and not be frustrated by. It has been awhile since I looked at craft supp

A friend's wife posted a status update on facebook today to let the world know her husband is the shit. He is, by the way, but that's not the point. It is a point, but not THE point. What is the point? My point? I don't have one, other than to point out the power of the. It is the definite article, wi

Point of view: an essential building block for any work of writing. But how much time do you spend thinking about it? Your choice of point of view can be an important tool for engaging your reader and revealing your characters. Let's reviews the choices:First PersonUtilizes "

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.~ King James

Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members. Mark Lubell is currently the Managing Director of Magnum. Back in 2004, he launched the Magnum’s digital magazine “inMotion” and since then redeveloped Magnum’s brand and strategy on the Internet. Founded in New York, i

I have a confession to make: I lack some discipline in my spiritual life (actually in many other parts of my life as well, but let's focus on just this one area for now). Prayer doesn't come naturally outside of...

This next-to-last matchup of the second round of the Blazersedge Scrubdown, our survey to determine Portland's favorite not-quite-star Blazer of all time, contains the first of three surprises in the second round.  A silly clerical error occurred in the first round.  I read the bracket in a late-night stupor an

Today’s report on the IPCC “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” suggests that although the science is now clear, the politics are getting in the way of the credibility of the IPCC and climate science in general.   Unfortunately in my view we are not debating the important items about warming, which

As Avatar gets re-released in theaters, TIME sits down with James Cameron as a part of their origins video series to discuss the movies and TV shows that influenced him most so far as a director.

Jimmy Fallon sums up LOST. Kick Ass Did. A New Jersey Housewife makes sweet, sweet music. Plus Boobs in the Bookstore.

Jimmy Fallon sums up LOST. Kick Ass Did. A New Jersey Housewife makes sweet, sweet music. Plus Boobs in the Bookstore.

A really powerful and gripping account of prison life (warning: it's pretty graphic sometimes, especially when he describes how inmates compensate for the inefficiency of homemade "shanks"; there's also some bad language). When an atheist feels lucky to be alive. Yet another study indicates that moderate alcohol consump

My wife loves horses, but we don't have one. So she's always on the lookout for good trail rides. We've paid our money and taken our chances with quite a few stables in the Willamette Valley and central Oregon. Almost...

Last friday I spotted this engine sitting in Brooklyn Yard, and thought hopefully that the Oregon Pacific h

The More You Ignore Me...

In 1995, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, Walter Hass Jr., died, and successors Stephen Scott and Ken Hofman floated on a different boat regarding the team’s philosophy. Hass had spent an abundant amount of money on players, and they wanted to go into an entirely different direction. The duo immediately implored th

A couple of times recently I’ve been wandering around Borden’s Corner on the eastside (home of Longboard Louie’s East, and next door to Double Happiness), and I’d seen the building that housed Indigo’s (I think it was Indigo’s that was …

vestacha: dashingbling

Last week I was invited along with a host of other local media folks to Deschutes Brewery for a VIP tour and special tasting. I wrote up an account of the event over at one of my other blogs here; … Continue reading →

"Cotton Pickin" is a common term used for many decades throughout the south that has only recently been deemed "racist" by some. Are we getting overly sensitive to political correctness? Or, is it another defensive measure to protect Obama from righteous criticism? Should CNN's Rick Sanchez have had to apologize? Would a

Blogger and radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt writes for the Washington Examiner:The American Enterprise Institute's Arthur Brooks has quite accurately described America as a 70/30 nation, with the 70 percent presently massively underrepresented in the federal government, the Manhattan-Beltway media elite and academia.The 70

Bjorn Lomberg does an about-face and is now calling for $tensB/yr spending on climate change mitigation and adaptation....

Around the Sun will be taking a break this week. Hope you enjoy the long weekend. You deserve it! For event news, visit these websites: PDX Pipeline Dave Knows Portland UrbanMamas  PDX Kids Calendar Concert Co-op Other articles from Around the Sun: December 28, 2008 — How to Get a Discount From Comcast: Ask for I

The past couple of weeks have been very stressful. Mudshark is not doing so well, and the process of figuring out what’s wrong has involved many inconclusive test results, one very conclusive finding (he has a large tumor in his … Continue r

It’s a bit of a late announcement this time around, but remember The Session is coming up this Friday (September 3rd). Session #43 is being hosted by The Beer Babe, Carla Companion, and the topic is “Welcoming the New Kids.” With the astounding growth of the number of craft breweries this year, chances are

You shall not steal.~ Exodus 20:15, RSV ~Application: As it now stands, stealing is already against the law. So, the new American theocracy won't need to spend much time passing or updating current statutes, though they def

Okay, I don’t have facebook, so you’ll have to excuse all these extraordinarily handsome photos. We got married at the Astoria Column on Saturday. The weather was unbelievably beautiful. My parents are now convinced there is no such thing as rain in Oregon. We had about eighteen people. We all showed up at the p

Still in a post relay haze, I am reluctant to re-enter the world of fighty-fighty bitey-scratchy that underwrites this precious, precious blog -- truthfully, I was hoping that several of the world's problems would just sort of dry up and blow away while I was doing the Hood to Coast -- and it doesn't help matters that I hav

Here are my 2nd Annual Preseason Awards. The awards are in bold and the nominees are in italics.Most Valuable PlayerJacquizz Rodgers, James Rodgers, Ryan Katz, Stephen Paea, Darrel CatchingsWinner: Jacquizz

Nightlife Of Weeds LXVIII. Portland, OR. Photo by Zoe Hoeltzel. …………

Day Seventy-one: Making candles with Sara and Faith The girls (ages 10 and 12) up the street have been hanging out at my house every few days until school starts. Once that happens, I’m their new after-school hang-out spot. They’ve been itching to make candles since they first laid eyes on all my supplies. So, t

This is August? Leslie finally broke down about ten o'clock and turned on that old gas fired scorched air monster in the basement with the sheet metal dustwork going every which way. I smelled it before I heard it. But I can't really blame her. It was cold and drizzly outside, and even colder inside.

A free Oregon Symphony concert with canons shots and fireworks!

I didn't think I had a blue picture for this week.  I was wrong.It's okay to be wrong.   

“President Obama’s top education official urged government employees to attend a rally that the Rev. Al Sharpton organized to counter a larger conservative event on the Mall. “ED staff are invited to join Secretary Arne Duncan, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and other leaders on Saturday, Aug. 28, for the ̵

After reading this post:

It snowed today (mixed with rain) in Sunriver. And they were cross-country skiing on Mount Bachelor.

This morning the NY Post confirmed what fans and observers have guessed all along. There will be 2 Batmen in November. Beginning that month, Detective Comics, Batman and Batman and Robin will feature Dick Grayson as Batman (with the black Bat-symbol on his chest) with Damian Wayne as Robin, while Grant Morrison and Yanick P

@HarrisonRoot Good job! in reply to HarrisonRoot #

That’s always the question no matter what the question is right?  What to do about this, or that, or anything seems to be the burden we humans have.  What to do? The summer is nearly over, the kids are heading back to school … mostly.  I continue on with the job I do everyday expecting i

Available on October 5th, Battle Studies Expanded Edition adds video of John Mayer’s recent VH1 Storytellers broadcast plus two intimate acoustic performances from his personal travels to Japan in May 2010.  Pre-order here from Amazon. DVD tracklisting – Approximate run time 50 minutes: VH1 Storytellers 1. No S

The Statesman Journal newspaper reminded Oregon taxpayers today that unionized state employees are set to receive a 4.75% raise as of Wednesday, September 1st.

Oregon St. released the depth chart for the TCU game today, and highlights are Wilder McAndrews getting the start at left tackle, Aaron Nichols getting the call at wide receiver, and Tony Wilson as the starting middle linebacker.